Banking and investment giants are back before Congress to discuss some of the policies and practices that have led to the collapse of the subprime-loan market and the financial markets generally. According to Dan Roberts of Britain’s Guardian newspaper, the CEOs still standing feel sufficiently bullish after their bailout to resist Congressional inquiries.
Paul Krugman continues to point out (this time in the New York Times) that the Obama Administration probably has done the right thing by the financial sector, but has done so with poor oversight and no effort to end the perverse incentives that helped steer the economy toward the ‘cliff.’
What these hearing mean in terms of real structural change in the economy remains to be seen. To be sure, those in the mortgage, housing, community-development, and greening sectors of the economy will have their work cut out for them.
