Spitzer: Regulators, Not Regulatory Laws, Failed to Stop Financial Crisis

Congress' effort to reform the financial regulatory system after the economy collapsed in 2008 was based on a false premise – that regulatory laws weren't strong enough already, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer said in a speech yesterday. Regulators had power, he said, but "they just failed."

Regulators learned a lesson after the downturn, Spitzer said, but he compared it to a driver getting a speeding ticket – behavior might change for a short time before reverting back to the old way of doing things. Asked why regulators fail to take action, he said that it can be hard to stand up to powerful institutions. "The status quo is the most powerful force," he said.

Spitzer, who hosts a news analysis show on Current TV, delivered the keynote address yesterday at The National Law Journal 2012 Regulatory Summit in Washington. His speech ranged from broad theories of regulatory power to what he'd like to see Congress accomplish next year (filibuster reform).

He began with a discussion of what he called the "grand irony" – that for all the "gloom and doom" that Americans feel about the economy and state of political affairs, many of the problems facing the United States stem from a major achievement: the spread of democracy. By "winning" the ideological battle, he said, the United States has been forced to compete harder.

The "sophisticated debate" about the future direction of the United States during the recent presidential election was an affirmation of democracy, he added. Spitzer said he didn't know if politics today is more divisive than in the past, but expected the "negative-sum" situation to continue as long as the country is facing economic uncertainty. Austerity isn't fun, he said.

Despite the recent debate over the so-called fiscal cliff – mandated tax increases and spending cuts set to take place in 2013 – Spitzer said the real crisis is healthcare costs. He said he wished President Barack Obama had asked Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to lead an effort post-election to reign in healthcare costs, a task that would have fit the longtime business leader's skill set, he added.

Shifting to the state of the regulatory system, Spitzer said he thought history proved that only the government could enforce a certain minimum threshold of integrity in the marketplace. Private industry isn't always bad, he said, but self-regulation can only go so far. He also called for corporate shareholders to exercise more power, saying that ownership can trump regulation when it comes to promoting good behavior.

Spitzer was asked about efforts by New York regulators to go after the alleged manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, and the criticism that they had gotten too ahead of federal officials. When he was New York attorney general, he said he tried not to jump ahead of the group when he was working on a matter that involved other agencies. He said he worried there was some "jump ahead" in what happened.

Asked about the future of fiscal cliff negotiations, he said he wasn't sure where Republicans were getting leverage. He said Republicans could use the issue of the debt ceiling as leverage, but didn't think they had a strong hand to work with at the moment.

National Law Journal photo by Diego M. Radzinschi.

Comments

[Charles Reed]

Perfect example of regulators being the problem is shown in Sept 2012 when the OCC found that 800,000 HAMP applications where denied modifications when in fact they were qualified for a modification at a cost of $88 billion dollar to the taxpayer.

Now on top of the Sept report, you have have a independent review of the FHA and it finds a shortfall of $16 billion which maybe as much as $32 billion because the interest rate is to be low until 2015. So there is a $70 billion loan lost over at the FHA which amounts to about 700,000 loans.

On two account you got evidence that the Federal Government is being defrauded as its already a matter fact that the loan should have been modified and next the Notes of all the loans placed into Ginnie Mae pools are endorsed in blank and relinquish to Ginnie Mae who is not a lender who does not purchase the Note's debt so under UCC 9 the burden of proof of ownership of the debt rest on the shoulders of Ginnie Mae or any one else in possession of a blank Note.

So from the one event there are two actions that make a foreclosure of any Ginnie Mae pooled loan not modified a crime, because there is not a financial party that actual holds the debt. Once the blank Notes are relinquish to Ginnie Mae who by law cannot originate, buy or sell a home mortgage loan at all and is not a lender and is not regulated to lend.

Now instead of regulators going to the Justice Department with their finding of 800,000 of the 4.4 million that were foreclosed during 2009-2010 that are currently being reviewed by the Independent Foreclosure Review Board, and interject that these 800,000 loans were wronged, we allowing to play out this charade of a process that only received at most 300,000 request for a review.

As for the Federal Government agencies in the FHA, VA etc. are purchasing loans with federal dollars and paying out False insurance claims.

So how do we have a debt debate and the FHA is bleeding money and with Ginnie Mae there is a $1 trillion mortgage backed securities program that has absolutely no underlying collateral. This situation gives a insight into Fannie & Freddie's MBS procedures.

[Adamakis]

"These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of
financial crisis,"~~Barney Frank

"The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was a set of events and conditions that led to the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures"--wikipedia

“[A] high-ranking Democrat telephoned executives and screamed at them to purchase more loans from low-income borrowers, according to a Congressional source.” The executives of government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “eventually yielded to those pressures, effectively wagering that if things got too bad, the government would bail them out.”~~http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/business/05freddie.html?_r=0

Did I claim that "Fannie and Freddie forced the mortgage originators and banks and brokerage firms to go bonkers on subprime mortgages"?

www.usnews.com/.../barney-franks-fannie-and-freddie-muddle

[JohnR]

It's Kick the Can Time again!!! It wasn't the Financial Industries fault... Nooooo... it was the Govt. Employees fault! Why, if they'd have been more diligant in their jobs.. they'd have caught the bad guys. Well... I'm so glad we got that all cleared up... so the now the Finance Industry can get back to raping little kids out of a warm house, starving the elderly who can't afford food and stealing EVERYTHING that's left of the downtrodden's posessions so they can "feel so superior everyday in everyway!"

You think we're all stupid?

Do I have to remeind you that there's a whole bunch of PHD's out here.. a huge amount of Engineer's and God only knows just how many accomplished deer hunters!

But you just go ahead and think it. What's that old saying? Oh yea... Pride cometh before the fall.

Don't forget to laugh on the way to the gallows pole. In the meantime we'll write and tell Bubba (he's in the pen you know) you're on the way... all sweet and clean and pretty.

[Tired of conservative claptrap (and you LOST!)]

Adamakis, your post is pure b/s. There is no evidence that Fannie and Freddie forced the mortgage originators and banks and brokerage firms to go bonkers on subprime mortgages. That's just Peter Wallison's theory. Repeating it ad nauseum does not make it true. It just makes me nauseous. As far as Spitzer is concerned, just because he used hookers does not mean he's not bright or right. He may be a slime bucket, but that has nothing to do with whether his points are correct.

In short, please go get drunk with Jim DeMint.

[Adamakis]

OK,
But the financial crisis precipitated from the sub-prime loan housing crisis, caused by those such as Barney Frank & Chris Dodd pressuring Fannie & Freddie to provide houses to those who could not afford them.

Also consider the reliability of the source:
"Spitzer, who hosts a news analysis show on Current TV" + remember his criminal activity