Financial 'reform' or revenge?
-- Barack Obama, June 25
It is a myth to think that the new financial "reform" legislation , assuming it passes the Senate, will insulate us for all time against financial panic and crisis. Great crises of the sort that occurred in 2008 and 2009 are usually separated by many decades, and so it will be hard to determine how much real protection the law provides. But the underlying ingredients of financial panics are always the same -- uncertainty, ignorance and fear -- and no law can permanently abolish these.
We have had recent reminders of just how quickly surprises can happen. On May 6, American stock prices dropped a scary 5 percent in a few minutes. Some blue-chip stocks momentarily fell to a penny. The collapse still isn't fully understood, though it's widely attributed to an interaction between computerized trading strategies (where computers automatically buy and sell stocks) and different securities markets. Another financial scare has arisen in Europe: Greece's near default. It could lead to a major banking crisis if fears that other governments might default cause big losses for banks that hold government bonds.
A trio of robbers used President Obama’s health care plan as ruse to invade a Long Island home where they shot two people and pistol-whipped a third, cops said Saturday.