Is Paulson Using the Credit Crunch to Deregulate Even More?

3/29 - "I think it's a clever way to use the current credit crisis to loosen regulation on the financial industry while doing little to fix the current problem or prevent future ones. A better way would be to nip future problems in the bud by changing financiers' incentives -- requiring them, rather than taxpayers, to foot the bill for the bad deals they originate -- and shedding far more light on their dealings...I don't think the proposed scheme would have prevented the current credit crisis."

"This administration has used crises in the past to justify its agenda of tax cuts and reduced regulation on business. For instance, it used the 2001 recession to justify $1.3 trillion worth of tax cuts much of which went to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Paulson's proposal is a thinly veiled attempt to use the current credit crisis to slash regulation on financial instit...