Whether the review was just a spectacularly botched operation or a piece of political theater rigged to fail, it's yet another indictment of the coziness of regulators and the banks. (Did I mention that the CEO of Promontory Financial Group, one of the firms reviewing Bank of America, was the former head of the OCC?)
If there's any takeaway, it's this: for all the grandstanding about reforming the financial services industry, one of the biggest factors leading to the 2008 meltdown remains unchanged. As they have for decades, the foxes still brazenly run the henhouse. And until the coital clinch between regulators and the banks they're supposed to be policing gets pried apart, the bottom-feeders who caused the Great Recession will stay one step ahead of their just desserts.
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, One Cent's Worth
