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As if collapsing prices were not enough,
American mortgage firms now have to cope with home
rage. Borrowers vent their fury on the system that
is repossessing their properties by smashing holes
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in walls and tipping paint over living-room carpets.
Something similar is going on in the house finance
built. Faith in open markets has been poisoned by
a crisis that has spread from one asset to the next.
First there was disbelief and denial. Then fear. Now
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comes anger.
For three decades, public policy has been
dominated by the power of markets – flexible and
resilient, harnessing self-interest for the public good,
and better than any planner-in-chief. Nowhere are
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markets deeper and more liquid than in modern
finance. But finance has stumbled and there are
growing calls from all sides for bold re-regulation.
New rules become inevitable the moment the
Federal Reserve rescued Bear Stearns and pledged
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to lend to other Wall Street banks. If taxpayers are
required to bail out investment banks, the governments
need to impose tighter limits on the risks those banks
can take.
Source: The Economist (Adapted)
Apr 3rd 2008