The Regulators’ Rough Ride

WHAT caused the financial crisis? President-elect Obama had a simple story during the campaign: “Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans have brought us to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.”

According to this view, which was echoed vocally by Obama’s economic team, deregulation and conservative ideology are to blame.