John Allison's Finger-Pointing
September 26, 2012 10:21 AM
Opportunity Cost
"By investing too much in housing, we invested too little in manufacturing capacity, technology, education, agriculture, and other such areas." (Image: Fotolia)
No Excuses
"I particularly blame Barney Frank [for the housing crisis]. Most of the members of Congress simply were not intellectual enough to understand the fundamental issue. However, Barney is smart. He could see the issues, and he still refused to act." (Image: Michael Chu)
Fed Bashing
"The Fed not only provided the money for the misallocation from savings and investment to consumption (housing), but created a false sense of security (low risk) that fooled many financial institutions, residential builders and developers, and home purchasers." (Image: Bloomberg News)
Short-Sighted Regulators
"They do not see bad times coming. They are not visionary, big-picture thinkers. The top regulators are political appointees. The rest are lifelong government bureaucrats." (Image: Thinkstock)
Three Strikes … Not Out
"In my career, Citigroup has been saved by the government three times. Each time, it has afterward become bigger and worse." (Image: Bloomberg News)
Moral Hazard
"There are several serious problems with the FDIC insurance concept. First, FDIC insurance destroys market discipline. … The existence of FDIC insurance provides incentives for taking large risks, which lead to bank failures."
Failed Bank CEO's Fatal Flaw
Colonial BancGroup CEO Bobby Lowder "had an extremely difficult time attracting and retaining executive-level management because he wanted to make all the decisions … [and he had] a hard time listening to negative feedback."
No Love for the GSEs
"Freddie and Fannie should not exist." (Image: Fotolia)
Ditto for Pension Funds
"Many institutional shareholders are short-term-oriented and care little about principles. … The worst institutional shareholders are state pension plans, especially Calpers, which confuse the politically correct notion of the day with meaningful principled action." (Image: Bloomberg News)
(Un)fair Value
"Fair-value accounting significantly contributed to the collapse of liquidity in capital markets in 2007 to 2009. It is no coincidence that things got worse when it was first adopted and began to clear up when it was abandoned." (Image: Fotolia)
Take My Call, Please
"I tried very hard to meet with Bernanke and Paulson. Neither of them would meet with me. … [They] were in almost constant conversation with the unhealthy institutions, but they would not talk to the leaders of the healthy banks." (Image: Bloomberg News)
