FDIC, others move on, insult duped citizens with empty words

"Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which regulates banks and runs the industry's life-boat fund, made the stark admission on the second day of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) .

• "Not only did market discipline fail to prevent the excesses of the last few years, but the regulatory system also failed in its responsibilities," Ms Bair said, adding that record profits across the banking sector also served to limit "second-guessing" among the regulatory community.
  

Ms Bair told the FCIC, set up by the US Congress to look into the causes of the crisis, that supervision of what she called the

• "shadow banking system" of firms such as hedge funds that are involved in some of the riskiest activities
  

• should be increased."....("Should" be increased? After all this time, all the lawyers and money spent by Obama, and you're saying nothing has been done-nor will it).

(continuing, Telegraph): "The 10-man commission also heard from Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has come under considerable criticism for its failings in detecting systemic problems across the industry as well as specific problems, such as Bernard Madoff's $65bn (£40bn) Ponzi scheme fraud.

• Ms Schapiro said the SEC is looking into the role investment banks played in developing derivative products around the sub-prime mortgage sector, to assess whether any wrongdoing took place."....(No, Ms. Schapiro, you're not "looking into" anything, you've already said as much, nothing will be done, you're part of the whole racket).

Telegraph UK, "US Regulator Apologizes for letting public down," 1/14/10, by James Quinn