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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."

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.