SHEILA BAIR’S CONFIDENCE IN HER ABILITY TO BADGER PEOPLE SUCCESSFULLY APPARENTLY KNOWS NO BOUNDS

Sheila Bair says that, if only she’d had the tools, she could have averted disaster:

On Monday the FDIC will publish a report showing how it would use new powers to wind down a company that is important for the financial system. Using Lehman Brothers as an example, the FDIC says it could have used new powers to encourage Barclays to acquire the failing US bank and to persuade UK regulators to approve the deal.

The report says that, if it had had the tools for Lehman, unsecured creditors might have received $0.97 in immediate cash for every dollar lent to the bank and a “disorderly, time-consuming, and expensive process.” [Emph. Added]

Dodd-Frank gives the head of the head of the FDIC the power to perform a Vulcan mind meld on UK financial regulators? That’s some piece of legislating. . . . The woman’s faith in what regulators can do-especially at times of deep crisis-is almost touching in its simplicity. . . .