Former SEC Chief Wants to Put the Fox in Charge of the Henhouse - They Still Don't Get It
Harvey Pitt, a former Chairman of the SEC, thinks that the fox should watch the chickens. At a Panel discussion at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's annual meeting Mr. Pitt declared that, in the wake of the financial crisis, a new regulatory structure is needed to improve regulatory standards. As reported by Aaron Siegel in the Investments News, Mr. Pitt suggested that a private-sector task force create a new set of regulations for a new regulatory structure. Mr. Pitt claimed that such a task force would be more effective than having Congress or the next presidential administration or the Federal Reserve draft the legislation. "There are issues that are too important to deal with political whims that will fly around on both sides of the aisle," Mr. Pitts said.
It is astounding that after the sub-prime implosion, the auction rate securities freeze, and the ongoing credit crisis that some people are still willing to declare that Wall Street, who got us into these messes in the first place, is the only entity that should be charged with creating a new regulatory structure and writing the new rules for that structure. They got us into this mess, and now they claim that they are the only ones who can protect us in the future. If the economic health of the nation and the financial security of its citizens were not at stake, this would be funny.
