The Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2009: A US Perspective 77
of the United States”.23 Over 50 banks received funds as part of the TARP bailout.24 This
was followed in July 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act signed into law by President Obama. The stated aim of the legislation is: “To promote
the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in
the financial system, to end ‘too big to fail’, to protect the American taxpayer by ending
bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive financial services and for other purposes”.25 Its
proponents describe the objectives of the Act as restoring public confidence in the financial
system, preventing another financial crisis and allowing any future asset bubble to be detected
and deflated before another financial crisis ensues.
Financial Stability Oversight Council
Section 111 of the Act creates a new Financial Stability Oversight Council composed of voting
and non-voting members whose task it will be to mitigate systemic risk and the maintenance
of system-wide financial stability. The stated purpose of the Council is: “to identify risks
to the financial stability of the United States that could arise from the material financial
distress or failure, or ongoing activities of large, interconnected bank holding companies or
that could arise outside the financial services marketplace”.26 The council will focus on the
interconnection of highly leveraged firms and will have the authority to force companies to
divest holdings if their structure poses a grave threat to US financial stability.
Paradigm Shift
The Act represents a paradigm shift in the American financial regulatory environment impacting
all federal financial regulatory bodies and affecting almost every aspect of the nation’s
services industry. During his public address in July 2010, President Obama remarked the
reform introduced by the Act “will prevent the kind of shadowy deals that led to this crisis,
reform that would never again put taxpayers on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes”. The
change in thinking came in the wake of Congress’s criticism of Alan Greenspan during his
testimony to the Congressional Committee for Oversight and Government Reform hearing
held in October 2008, chaired by Henry Waxman. Chairman Waxman’s approach to the hearing
was to carry out a direct inquisition into Greenspan’s decisions during his time as Federal
Reserve chairman and the degree to which the Reserve set the stage for the American (and
global) financial disaster. Included in Box 4.3 is an extract of the dialogue between Henry
Waxman and Alan Greenspan during the hearing over Greenspan’s long-term advocacy of
financial deregulation.
Box 4.3 Congressional hearing into the financial crisis
The following is an extract from the Congressional Committee for Oversight and Government
Reform hearing held in October 2008, chaired by Henry Waxman.
Waxman: Dr. Greenspan, you were the longest-serving chairman of the Federal Reserve
in history and during this period of time you were perhaps the leading