Leave the law alone

Congress did the numbers on a sub prime bailout and realized that the cost was too high. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee , said today "Legislation going forward will not help this current group of people (i.e. subprime borrowers) who are entrapped". That is right, Barney, they are forsaken and doomed.

Instead Federal lawmakers will "focus on steps to protect consumers from bad mortgages in the future". However, predatory lending practices are as old as the hills. New legislation is not needed, but there is a need to enforce the law. These practices were tolerated by a financial regulator unwilling to restrain a profitable business built on exploiting the poor and vulnerable.

Congress should leave the law alone. Instead, it should seek accountability from the Fed. Firing Bernanke would make a good start. Hauling Greenspan before congress would be an effective follow up.