Driehaus said that he disagrees with Chabot on how the financial trouble came to pass. Driehaus blamed de-regulation of the financial industry for its current troubles. Driehaus said that the tools have existed to crack down on predatory lending and mortgage-backed securities. Driehaus said that no action was taken, however, on these issues.There is a difference between deregulation and a lack of oversight. Deregulation, in and of itself, is not a bad thing and it certainly wasn't the cause of the mess. Lack of oversight did occur and it is at the very heart of the cause of the mess.
A relaxing of regulations governing the operation of an industry isn't a bad thing. The problem is that with the lowering of standards came a responsibility -- on the part of Congress -- to watchdog the issue. How many times have Republicans tried to put reform of Freddie and Fannie on the table over the years only to be demagogued out of it. Sure, we can say -- in hindsight -- that when Republicans had control that they should have done something about it but that also ignores the fact that Democrats have controlled the chambers of Congress for nearly two years and have done...nothing. And they still haven't done anything to address the root causes of the problem.
Deregulation was not the problem here...the problem was a total lack of oversight on the part of Congress.
