Here’s a system Willie Sutton would have loved. Under the federal government’s banking regime, those being regulated ”” the banks and savings and loans ”” get to pick who regulates them.
That’s a sweet deal, made even sweeter by this: The two major regulatory agencies get almost all their income from assessments on the very institutions they oversee, so they have an incentive to keep the bankers happy. The largest banks and S&Ls ”” including some that engaged in the riskiest behavior ”” are big catches for the agency that can hook them.
That’s not exactly a prescription for strict enforcement.
“That’s a sweet deal” – not as sweet as the big banks owning the Federal Reserve who just happens to be lavishing hundreds of billion if not trillions of dollars on them. But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, right?