SEC Commentary

Here's some interesting commentary on the effectiveness and problematic nature of government bailouts from Christopher Cox, Chairman of the SEC, taken from an article by Bloomberg reporter, Jonathan Weil:

“From the standpoint of the SEC, the most obvious problem with breaking down the arm’s-length relationship between government, as the regulator, and business, as the regulated, is that it threatens to undermine our enforcement and regulatory regime,” Cox said.

“When the government becomes both referee and player, the game changes rather dramatically for every other participant. Rules that might be rigorously applied to private-sector competitors will not necessarily be applied in the same way to the sovereign who makes the rules.”

Weil also goes into the Madoff case and the Ponzi scheme in a more general context of the financial meltdown.  Full article here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a4nU8QswIu28&refer=home