JEC hearing at 9:30 - Joseph Stiglitz and Simon Johnson to testify

[DemReadingDU]

4/21/09 Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions

The Joint Economic Committee (JEC), chaired by Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, will hold a hearing on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. in Cannon House Office Building Room 210. At the hearing, entitled “Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions,” economists including Joseph Stiglitz and Simon Johnson will focus on new policy responses to failures at large financial institutions. The hearing will examine what criteria policymakers and regulators should use to determine when institutions pose systemic risk – at what point financial firms become ‘too big to fail’ – and how regulators should deal with them when they are insolvent.


Click here to watch the Joint Economic Committee hearing LIVE - Link will not be active until the hearing begins.
http://budget.edgeboss.net/wmedia-live/budget/11374/100_budget-video_060519.asx

http://jec.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.HearingsCalendar&ContentRecord_id=c89b185b-5056-8059-7670-0ce56df64713

[DemReadingDU]

1. Starting soon, link is active

[DemReadingDU]

2. Starting now

opening comments by Ms. Maloney

[DemReadingDU]

3. Congressman Cummings opening remarks

[DemReadingDU]

4. Maloney introducing the speakers

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize recipient, 2001; University Professor, Columbia University; former chairman, Council of Economic Advisers

Simon Johnson, Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship, MIT's Sloan School of Management; Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute; former Economic Counselor, International Monetary Fund

Thomas M. Hoenig, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

[DemReadingDU]

5. Stiglitz giving opening remarks

[DemReadingDU]

11. Banking behemoths should be be broken up, Stiglitz says

4/21/09
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Banks and other financial institutions that are so big that their failure poses risks to the economy should be broken up, economist Joseph Stiglitz told lawmakers Tuesday. Stronger supervision will be needed to prevent banks from taking risks that the taxpayers may ultimately pay, he said. Because powerful banks will resist effective regulation, "it would be far better to break up these too-big-to-fail institutions and strongly restrict the activities in which they can be engaged," Stiglitz said. Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, testified along with MIT economist Simon Johnson and Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig at the Joint Economic Committee.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Banking-behemoths-should-broken-up/story.aspx?guid=%7B5896C6A5-5419-4A45-96F0-537F3C6CE7D8%7D

[DemReadingDU]

6. Johnson giving opening remarks

[DemReadingDU]

7. Hoenig giving opening remarks

[DemReadingDU]

10. Bailouts distort economy, prolong crisis, Fed's Hoenig says

4/21/09
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The current federal bailouts of big financial firms is distorting the economy and prolonging the crisis, said Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig in testimony to Congress on Tuesday. The Troubled Asset Relief Program has not restored confidence in the banking system, he said. Banks that are well capitalized should be left alone. Banks that need just a little help should be required to raise more capital. Banks that are not viable should be liquidated, he said. Hoenig spoke at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee. Nobel Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz and MIT economist Simon Johnson also testified about the problem of banks that are deemed "too big to fail."

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Bailouts-distort-economy-prolong-crisis/story.aspx?guid={3CE9EC61-BADB-444B-803C-6B61F79B0CAE}&dist=hplatest

[DemReadingDU]

8. Questioning begins

[DemReadingDU]

9. Also can be watched Live on CNN.com

[Demeter]

12. Thanks!

so how did the reception go? did Congress listen? was the room full?