Lack of Financial Regulation Was the Principal Aim...
Robert Waldmann quotes Paul Krugman:
Robert Waldmann: Paul Krugman, "Hiding Behind the Invisible Hand":
Consider the press conference held on June 3, 2003 -- just about the time subprime lending was starting to go wild -- to announce a new initiative aimed at reducing the regulatory burden on banks. Representatives of four of the five government agencies responsible for financial supervision used tree shears to attack a stack of paper representing bank regulations. The fifth representative, James Gilleran of the Office of Thrift Supervision, wielded a chainsaw.... The lack of oversight, in short, was no oversight: it was part of the plan.
And Robert Waldmann finds a picture:
From the FDIC bulletin.... I know the image is low quality, but it took me a while to find it. For one thing, not only did the American Banker's Association eagerly lobby for the deregulation which seriously threatens American Banking, but their magazine -- community banker -- had an article on the great event which claimed to be illustrated and was missing the digital photograph. No wonder they are going bankrupt.
