Some undersecretary laughed at the notion that hedge funds could self-regulate. He was very sarcastic, saying these guys wouldn't leave their posh living quarters and take a self-regulated taxi or use toothpaste from a self-regulating pharmaceutical company, but somehow they suggest that they will be public-minded.
The Wall St. Journal pointed out this bit of "comic relief": "George Soros, Jeffrey Sachs, William Greider, Jeffrey Garten and others weigh in on a topic with sobering implications and one bit of comic relief. It comes as Mike McCurry, the president's then-press secretary, introduces Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan at the December 1994 news conference announcing a huge rescue package for Mexico: 'Let me go to people who will be well equipped to answer your questions. And the attribution will be 'U.S. officials.' A reporter notes that the quite-identifiable Messrs. Rubin and Greenspan are already on camera and asks, 'Isn't that a little ridiculous to put it off camera when these senior officials are standing right here?' 'No, it's not' is Mr. McCurry's reply. Good practice for the White House years ahead."
Jeffrey Garten said that the 20 or so execs he spoke with agree that another crisis is coming doing the pipe. Keep this in mind and reread James K. Galbraith's editorial cheerleading.
These two are my faves: "There is genius in the way things are fitting together." "And the costs? What costs? Inflation remains a dead flat zero."
Couldn't it be argued that costs can be found on the international scene? That the U.S. benefited from most everyone else's pain?
I'm not an economist, but couldn't one argue that the Fed is trying to prevent the bubble from popping? (I do tell the girls at the singles bars that I'm an amateur economist, though)