Is Financial Reform Really Needed?

[erpowers]

I am not against financial reform; however, I do want to ask if it is really needed. A number of individuals from the left and the right have said if any number of people had done their jobs this latest financial crisis would not have happened. So is financial reform really needed?

[applegrove]

1. My brother in law is in the financial industry in Canada. He thinks the USA need reform.

We were more heavily regulated in Canada and our banks didn't falter. They are doing great (and they are quite big banks they just didn't get into sub prime loans and derivatives like the USA did).

[Oregone]

5. Canada is on the brink of a disaster

If anything, Canada is in a far more perilous position today than they were 2 years ago, simply because fraud and busting banks didn't lead to an immediate housing correction. $320K average homes? 20% rises in a year with stagnant wages? Come on now. The average Canadian is overburdened with consumer debt and will never afford the payments once their mortgages reset (and 30%+ going to reset to the new rates in the next couple of years, since they do 2-5 year balloon loans).

Yes, there isn't the rampant fraud and derivatives. But there is unaffordable housing and an overburdened consumer/working class due to government policies that handed out too much cheap money. Those horses are already out of the barn, and not coming back. You simply cannot have a healthy economy when everyone is upside down in their mortgage, indebted and can't make the payments. And when Canada finds itself there, its not going to be pretty.

The kettle and the pot are both a bit tarnished at the moment. :)

[applegrove]

7. For sure interest rates are going to go up in canada in June. Hopefully that will calm down the

housing market a bit.

[LiberalAndProud]

2. It took less than a decade after Glass Steagall was repealed for the market to collapse,

triggering a worldwide economic crisis, and you ask if we need regulation?

I think the answer to this question is obvious.

[DJ13]

3. Yes

We need to separate banking from investments and insurance like we had until 2000 when Clinton signed the repeal of Glass/Steagall.

[lonestarnot]

4. Are you richie rich?

[Enthusiast]

6. Financial reform is desperately

needed. But there is no use to have regulations if the regulatory agencies are weakened and going to be hampered in performing their duties as they were under George W Bush.