http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2009/12/14/obama-vs-wall-street/ Politics and policy from inside Washington Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:23:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2009/12/14/obama-vs-wall-street/comment-page-1/#comment-5563 gotthardbahn Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:24:17 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/?p=2918#comment-5563 Point (5) is well-taken, although I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any mea culpas from the likes of Barney Frank or Chris Dodd or Fannie or Freddie or any of the senior bureaucrats who thought they had a winner (and votes) in extending mortgages to unqualified individuals. Moreover, banking regulators who altered reserve requirements to encourage banks to buy mortgage-backed's rather than holding actual mortgages - by dropping the reserve requirements - have NEVER been fingered as culprits. So much simpler to blame Wall Street and whine about bonuses and compensation, as Mr. Obama DID NOT FAIL to do today. Unfortunately for the banks, the truth is very complicated and, while there is plenty of blame to go around, it wasn't entirely the banks' fault. I don't envy the spot they're in. The optics are awful. Point (5) is well-taken, although I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for any mea culpas from the likes of Barney Frank or Chris Dodd or Fannie or Freddie or any of the senior bureaucrats who thought they had a winner (and votes) in extending mortgages to unqualified individuals. Moreover, banking regulators who altered reserve requirements to encourage banks to buy mortgage-backed’s rather than holding actual mortgages – by dropping the reserve requirements – have NEVER been fingered as culprits. So much simpler to blame Wall Street and whine about bonuses and compensation, as Mr. Obama DID NOT FAIL to do today. Unfortunately for the banks, the truth is very complicated and, while there is plenty of blame to go around, it wasn’t entirely the banks’ fault. I don’t envy the spot they’re in. The optics are awful.

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