Money, Power Serve Up Alphabet Soup Of Regulators : NPR

Money, Power Serve Up Alphabet Soup Of Regulators : NPR: "Exactly one year ago, the U.S. government began planning its takeover of AIG to prevent the collapse of the largest insurance company in the world. The public seemed outraged that taxpayers had to save a private company. ...AIG was watched over by 400 different agencies around the world, including dozens in the U.S., and none of them noticed that the company was on the verge of taking down the entire global economy.

Economists say this kind of problem stems from regulatory arbitrage. When more than one regulator oversees the same kind of activity, financial firms find ways to play one off against the other. It's like what every 4-year-old has figured out — if Mommy won't let you, maybe Daddy will. Or worse, if Mommy thinks Daddy is watching you, and Daddy thinks Mommy is watching you, then you can get away with anything.

The other thing Democrats and Republicans agree on is that solving the problem by simply merging some of the regulators will never happen.

Consider one of the most glaring examples — the bizarre division of labor between the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. If you buy and sell stocks, your overseer is the SEC. If you trade stock futures or their kin, you get the CFTC.

Much of the current financial crisis is linked to the strange financial products that fell between the cracks of the SEC and CFTC."