So I’m reading the President’s interview in the sunday times with David Leonhardt
here are some thoughts:
The President is talking about democratizing the markets which shares the benefits but also the pains – not believable, or very wise in the current climate:
“THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that some of the democratization of finance is actually beneficial if properly regulated. So the fact that large numbers of people could participate in the equity markets in ways that they could not previously — and for much lower costs than they used to be able to participate — I think is important.
Now, the fact that we had such poor regulation means — in some of these markets, particularly around the securitized mortgages — means that the pain has been democratized as well. And that’s a problem.”
tighter regulation is mentioned 3 times along the piece. The President also argues that tight regulation can enable the existence of financial supermarkets. (“see, the Canadians do it”):
“THE PRESIDENT: You know, I’ve looked at the evidence so far that indicates that other countries that have not seen some of the problems in their financial markets that we have nevertheless don’t separate between investment banks and commercial banks, for example. They have a “supermarket” model that they’ve got strong regulation of.
Like Canada?
THE PRESIDENT: Canada being a good example. (2) And they’ve actually done a good job in managing through what was a pretty risky period in the financial markets.”
…
“But when it comes to something like investment banking versus commercial banking, the experience in a country like Canada would indicate that good, strong regulation that focuses less on the legal form of the institution and more on the functions that they’re carrying out is probably the right approach to take.”
even competent regulation will do…
A big chunk of the discussion goes to the educational reform issues.
the interview moves to the big reform on Health-care, here it is interesting to see how previous years discussion about the dilemmas at the beginning of life (abortions pro/con) is now shifting towards dilemmas regarding the end of life:
(talking about expensive therapy for the chronically ill aged people)…
“And it’s going to be hard for people who don’t have the option of paying for it.
THE PRESIDENT: So that’s where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But that’s also a huge driver of cost, right?
I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.” (wow, didn’t know that, really, eskimos faced the same issue i guess.)
The President suggests to form a non-political independent group to advise on this issue.
moving out of the recession: the President makes a bold argument that now is the time to promote important reforms despite the resistance from various lobbies.
Closure : the President is confident in the decisions he and his team are making.
God Bless America.
Thanks Barry for the homework.