I have said in the past that strict government regulation by itself does not work. However, one problem we have is we may have too many agencies working with conflicting objectives.
A suggestion with possible merit might be to have the Federal Reserve in charge of all the banks and insurance companies, instead of the various agencies now supervising the many institutions. There is also a question of SEC duties and how hedge funds are kept under control, and whether they, too, ought to be under that all-in-one supervisor.
Transparency always works best. However, that is also a matter of political talk more than practice. Transparency is what politicians mention only in their campaign banter.
A better look at the balance sheets of public companies would be of help. More legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is not the answer. The latter legislation has been an expensive failure because it has not done what the politicians wanted, apart from keeping many foreign businesses away from American shores.
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