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Obama's Proposed Regulatory Overhaul: Long Overdue

And let's not forget Chris' involvement in Glass Steagall. I don't trust any of them in Washington to pass legislation that is good for the country. They play to what is good for them.

Dodd also played a crucial role in the 1999 passage of the deregulatory Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which dismantled key provisions of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, breaking down barriers among commercial banks, investment banks, and insurance companies. In fact, according to Ed Yingling, head of the American Bankers Association, Dodd was the bill's unsung hero. "It was about to die," says Yingling, "because [former Republican senator] Phil Gramm, on a side issue, was just hardballing it. There were seven or eight of us who were chief lobbyists for the industries. What we were saying was, 'We're running out of time. If we can get Chris Dodd in the room, we can work it out.'" They got Dodd, and Dodd got it done, but Dodd doesn't like to talk about it anymore. Not when he's trying to rebuild vital parts of the same regulatory framework he helped knock down. "I regret we didn't pay more attention to this at the time," he admits. "We're not going to go back and rewrite that. We want to be able to have those kinds of efficiencies in the system. But clearly the division between commerce and banking - that needs to be a bright line."

Mark-to-Market vs. Mark-to-History

petyaczar, you also hit the nail on the head when you said that the problems were caused by politicians who passed the CRA bill and forced the banks to make loans to people who could not afford them and would not have qualified otherwise. This did not help the homeowners in the long run nor the banks. Another case of government intervention screwing up the free market place.

Wachovia Sale to Wells Fargo Is a Better Deal for the U.S. Banking System

I agree with Hunter, why would WB want to make a deal with either Bank now that the Bail out has passed. The only reason it happened with Citi was because the FCID knew some analyst were going to downgrade WB on Monday morning and they felt they could not handle a bank run. Instead of brokering a deal they should have come out and said WB was working through problems and was basically a sound bank. Then with the bail out the bad loans could have been taken care of or as Mr. Steel has stated he has teams of people working with homeowners to refinance these loans. As a long time stockholder I do not appreciate what the FDIC and the government has done. I know KT made a huge mistake in buying Golden West but for that WB is a good bank. It has a great retail bank and brokerage arm. If the government would do away with mark to market they could reevalue assets and that would raise the liquidity of the bank. Bottom line there are now better options out there than Citi or WF. Our bank is worth more than is being offered.

Wachovia Dumps Citigroup, Merges with Wells Fargo

As a long time Wachovia shareholder I don't know why we need Citi or WF since the bail out has been signed. Sell the bad debt to the goverment and start with a clean slate. Wachovia has many assets, such as a great retail bank and a very well thought of brokerage arm. We were doing fine until Ken Thompson lost his mind and the board went a long with him on the Golden West Purchase. If those loans were off the books or as Robert Steel said about two weeks ago, he had a team working with homeowners on those loans and with time most of them could be worked out without a loss, Wachovia could once again become a strong, viable bank. At this point as a stockholder I do not see why we need WF. Our bank is worth much more than 7.00 a share and if they would do away with the mark to market it would allow the assets to be revalued and raise the bank's liquidity. There are many things that could be done if Mr. Steel only had a little time. Once again analyst stating they were ready to downgrade WB caused the beginning problem last week end. This is a shame when analyst and media can put out info that eventually causes the demise of a lot of good institutions which given time could have possibly worked through their problems.

Mark-to-Market vs. Mark-to-History

This makes too much sense and so it would be impossible for the people in Washington to use it. All they can talk about is more money, more for their political buddies, more for lobbyist in the end. This package has already been widely discussed and no one knows if it will work yet a simple proposal such as the one above could have been tried before committing the country to 8B dollars of more debt and giving the very people who have caused so much of the problem discretionary spending of it. We should vote the whole group out in Washington and start over. We couldn't do any worse. It's time for term limits in Washington, and I know we have to vote on them, but people tend to vote for the names they know plus most of the sitting politicians have such huge war chests it's hard to compete with them when campaigning.

Wachovia-Golden West Transaction: A Disaster Without Peer

This may all be true but what about the Wachovia stockholder. Steel may be smart, he sure isn't honorable. He was putting out info the day before he started dealing to sell Wachovia about how strong we were and that everything would be Ok. As a long time shareholder I would have sold some of my stock if he had not gone on Jim Cramer and made such a good pitch and then put out the strong hold statement on WBs website right before he screwed the shareholders. If I had lots of money I would not go near anything Bob Steel has his hand in, I dont trust one word from the man any longer. Also, look who else got a good deal, not the stockholders but Ben Jenkins and several other Wachova croonies who were involved in the Golden West debacle. They are getting huge severances in the 13 millions and a job with Citi. This is exactly the reason I along with most other taxpayers do not agree with the Bail Out congress is pushing. No one is holding anyone accountable for this catastrophe that has destroyed companies and people's lives. Something is very wrong with our country and we need to do something about it beginning with voting out the politicians in office and voting in new faces. At least give someone else a chance.

Who's to Blame for the Mess at Wachovia? Start with the Board

I am so happy to finally see someone say the same thing I have been saying for months. If you go to the Wachovia message board you will find the same thought. I only hope someone who can force the board to resign will get involved. Thanks.