WHERE ANGELS FEAR....

to tread. There were similar stories today in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal regarding the discussions/disagreements within the Fed as to the institution's supervisory role. The upshot was that there are a lot of people inside the place that feel it wasn't good enough in the past and it's not good enough today. Further, the role of the regional institutions within the system is under active discussion as is direction from Washington.

It's an interesting story and one I must confess to which I haven't paid too much attention primarily because I have this view that unless you are deep within an institution it's almost impossible to get a true read on situations like this. I have other biases as well. At the conclusion of the WSJ story it was revealed that DUSTOFF and his guy Dan Tarullo, a recent appointed board member and ex-Clintonista, ex-Law Professor (about whom I know zilch) have tapped Fed economist Patrick Parkinson to run bank supervision in D.C.

Now I know things have changed quite a bit since I grew old but I can't help but wonder if appointing an economist to run supervision is a step forward or a stroll over a cliff. I can't help but recall to mind FDR's famous comment on why he appointed Joe Kennedy as the head of the newly-created SEC: "It takes a crook to catch a crook." I'm sure Mr. parkinson is a brilliant guy and I'm certain in the manner of calculating capital adequacy he is probably without peer but my question is has he ever been in the business because (see above) if you're not in it and worse, if you never have been you may really have a problem separating the good guys from the bad guy; they don't wear white or black hats any more. But I just don't know enough about it, so I'm going to try to find out. Read the articles, sick with me and I'll be back tomorrow.