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On Fourth Anniversary of Lehman Collapse, No Fundamental Change on Wall Street
Forgive my impertinence for not taking some time out on the blog to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers. This event led to the broader financial crisis and revealed to the world the surprisingly delicate and fragile nature of our banking system. In reality, this had been on the menu for some time. Larger banks, less aggressive regulation and riskier bets all conspired to weaken the system and turn losses into catastrophes.
The important thing to recognize is that almost nothing has changed. Four years later, we have not seen a systematic dismantling of the conditions that created the crisis. We’ve seen trillions in emergency support thrown at the banks that survived the crash, all of whom have grown bigger and more indispensible, even more “Too Big to Fail” than before. We’ve seen cosmetic regulatory changes, many unrelated to the crash at all, which have not yet been tested and in many not yet implemented. And the core problems of a massive financial sector have not been resolved.
...
The apparatus has not changed, in other words, to turned banking back into a method to allocate capital, from what it is now, a method to take profits by gaining advantages on customers through financial alchemy. The system remains deregulated, unencumbered and really at the direction and mercy of big bank interest. Despite being on their knees and begging for bailouts just four years ago, these banks now staunchly fight reform efforts, armed with a flotilla of lobbyists to serve that purpose. And the titanic struggles over what they’re fighting masks the fact that the new rules put in place don’t even attack the core problems. It could be said that the goal of these lobbying efforts is to ensure the lack of stomach for implementing any real constraints down the road.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/09/17/on-fourth-anniversary-of-lehman-collapse-no-fundamental-change-on-wall-street/
The important thing to recognize is that almost nothing has changed. Four years later, we have not seen a systematic dismantling of the conditions that created the crisis. We’ve seen trillions in emergency support thrown at the banks that survived the crash, all of whom have grown bigger and more indispensible, even more “Too Big to Fail” than before. We’ve seen cosmetic regulatory changes, many unrelated to the crash at all, which have not yet been tested and in many not yet implemented. And the core problems of a massive financial sector have not been resolved.
...
The apparatus has not changed, in other words, to turned banking back into a method to allocate capital, from what it is now, a method to take profits by gaining advantages on customers through financial alchemy. The system remains deregulated, unencumbered and really at the direction and mercy of big bank interest. Despite being on their knees and begging for bailouts just four years ago, these banks now staunchly fight reform efforts, armed with a flotilla of lobbyists to serve that purpose. And the titanic struggles over what they’re fighting masks the fact that the new rules put in place don’t even attack the core problems. It could be said that the goal of these lobbying efforts is to ensure the lack of stomach for implementing any real constraints down the road.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/09/17/on-fourth-anniversary-of-lehman-collapse-no-fundamental-change-on-wall-street/
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