U.S. Considers Stripping SEC of Powers in Regulatory Overhaul

[cal04]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601009&sid=ai_W.obsRhmg

The Obama administration may call for stripping the Securities and Exchange Commission of some of its powers under a regulatory reorganization that could be unveiled as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said.

The proposal, still being drafted, is likely to give the Federal Reserve more authority to supervise financial firms deemed too big to fail. The Fed may inherit some SEC functions, with others going to other agencies, the people said. On the table: giving oversight of mutual funds to a bank regulator or a new agency to police consumer-finance products, two people said.

The 75-year-old SEC, chartered to oversee Wall Street and safeguard investors, has seen its reputation tarnished as some lawmakers blamed it for missing the incipient financial crisis and failing to detect Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Any move to rein in the agency is likely to provoke a battle in Congress, which would need to approve the changes, and draw the ire of union pension funds and other advocates for shareholders.

“It would be a terrible mistake,” said Stanley Sporkin, a former federal judge and enforcement chief at the SEC. “Whatever the SEC has done or didn’t do, it is still the premier investor protection agency around.”


U.S. May Add New Financial Watchdog
Consumer Agency Under Consideration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/19/AR2009051903061.html?hpid=topnews

[PDJane]

1. and giving oversight to the Fed

is an absolutely stupid idea......unless you nationalize the fed.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

2. The Fed overseeing their flunkies in the stock market

does not give me the warm fuzzies...

How about we dismantle the Fed and appoint new chairs in the SEC and have all those in a supervisory capacity answer to Dennis Kucinch?

[kickysnana]

3. It's not like they were using them anyway. n/t

[TahitiNut]

4. The privatization of government regulatory functions is a corporatist's wet dream.

:puke: :puke:

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Exactly. n/t

[w4rma]

5. DO NOT GIVE MORE POWER TO THE FED! IDIOTS!

Sorry about the caps, but this is the first time that I've *really* felt the need to use them.

[aquart]

6. So we're taking oversightof the hens from the foxes and giving it to the hawks?

Hawks love a tasty flock o'hens?

[elleng]

8. Turf war

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers are leading the administration’s effort to redraw the lines of authority for policing the financial system.