The Shadow Committee congratulates federal policy makers for not providing direct financial support to assist in the resolution of Lehman Brothers.The Committee believes it is important not to rush to judgment on the need for intervention in many cases, or on the inevitability of tightened Fed regulation of investment banking. 

Losing money is embarrassing. And an embarrassed Jamie Dimon publicly admitted that J.P. Morgan Chase goofed. Three senior executives lost their jobs as a result. But politicians and regulators in Washington are rushing to leverage the bank's misfortune for their own gain.

In a new book entitled “Financing Failure: A Century of Bailouts,” Vern McKinley provides the most detailed account yet of the government’s decision-making process during these momentous events.

During two closed sessions before the luncheon, committee members discussed the latest in financial regulation issues. At a luncheon briefing following these sessions, SFRC members gave several statements and answered questions.

Banking history shows us an interesting way to divide banks into two parts: this is the State of Louisiana Banking Act of 1842.

These days, billions of dollars is spoken of as pocket change. A by-product of massive government debt burdens and decades of cheap cash from central banks is the notion that, while solvency might be important, liquidity should be easy to find. Particularly for financial institutions, the official state position appears...

The Dodd-Frank legislation has many problems and omissions, and much is still uncertain about implementation. But the new liquidation authority provides for the possibility of making it so that future crises do not involve the bailouts of creditors that truly embodied the problem of having banks that are too big to fail.

Regulatory changes immediately after the Great Depression demonstrated that the aftermath of crises are moments of high risk in public policy, and provide a warning against enacting quick, comprehensive, and politically responsive regulation now.