Today Congressman Spencer Bachus, along with several of the Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee, offered a plan for reforming our financial system and ending future government bailouts of the financial sector
At the heart of the financial crisis has been the Federal Reserve’s willingness to invoke its powers under Paragraph 13–3 of the Federal Reserve Act to bail out firms like Bear Stearns and AIG — all without a single vote from Congress or any form of public debate. Almost 10 months after the initial AIG bailout by the Fed, there is still no plan for resolving that firm, and no strategy for recovering the taxpayers investment.
While some might pretend that the Fed puts no taxpayer funds at risk under the use its 13–3 powers, it is the American taxpayer who ultimately stands behind any Federal Reserve actions. In focusing on 13–3, the Bachus proposal rightly targets the largest, and least accountable, source of the bailouts. The Bachus proposal would require the Treasury secretary to approve any 13–3 actions and allow Congress the ability to disapprove such actions. While a complete repeal of 13–3 would be preferred, the presented reforms are a step in the right direction.
Another feature of the Bachus plan is to require large, non-financial firms to be resolved under the bankruptcy code, and not under a regime of continuing bailouts or political manipulation. Despite whatever flaws it may have, the bankruptcy process is one that is separated from politics. As we have witnessed in the recent government restructuring of U.S. auto companies, allowing Washington to resolve firms is an invitation for violating contracts and rewarding political constituencies.
The Bachus plan also addresses the two institutions at the center of our mortgage crisis: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Their model of private profits and public losses has become an expensive one, with little public benefit. Any reform proposal that does not deal with Fannie and Freddie does not merit being called reform. The Bachus plan would rightly begin phasing out the privileged status of Fannie and Freddie.
