This time it was in fact the regulators who started the whole craziness

Sir David Pitt-Watson tells us that the “Lessons of the credit crisis are not just for regulators” December 5, and of course he is right, who argues the opposite? But when it comes to accountability it might be important to state that this should also be applicable to regulators.

Pitt-Watson mentions that “To be assured that these loans were credit worthy the market passed on this accountability and responsibility to credit rating agencies” but he forgets that, in the case of the banks for example, it was actually the regulators, by means of how they calculate the minimum capital requirements, that basically ordered the banks to make the credit rating agencies their pipers, and I have not yet heard the first regulator being fired, paying a fine, or even named and shamed for doing a crazy thing like that. On the contrary they seem all to be fine and dandy and ready to help out again…with our taxes.