PayThink

Great, not just good, effective leadership will be one of the key factors of how the success of organizations will be measured in the future. And how current leaders set an ethical standard to follow and having the will to follow it may be their most important legacy.

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The prospect for principal reductions as a mortgage modification alternative has never looked as promising as it has with a number of important housing announcements over the last few weeks. The Federal Reserve's housing white paper, for instance, highlighted the need for more attention on principal reduction modifications, and it was featured again in the president's housing plan.

What the former Fed chairman does not tell us, because he cannot, is the name of a single bank that went under and required taxpayer support because of proprietary trading gone bad.

Perversely, the proposed compliance framework presumes that a banking entity has violated the Volcker Rule unless the entity can prove otherwise.

Competition between Amex, Discover, MasterCard, PayPal and Visa is fierce and intensifying. What would Facebook's angle be if it aspired to build a broader payments business?

Congress has begun to consider ways to enhance the ombudsman programs at the federal financial regulatory agencies. These programs are an especially important part of the regulatory process, and are deserving of thoughtful ways to increase their efficacy.

On what basis do the MMFs think that they are entitled to run a multi-trillion dollar business, in this day and age, without any capital to stand behind any mistakes they may make?

The Obama administration's reasons for charging banks $61 billion are disingenuous and transparently political. The tax has nothing to do with recouping Tarp costs or making the system safer.

The housing market continues to suffer from a painful and prolonged hangover commensurate with its worst binge in U.S. history and many politicians and Fed officials are anxious for a housing rebound to pull the rest of the economy along.