PayThink

As Occupy Wall Street gains national attention bashing bankers, it's giving a free ride to the 'Other 99%' who enjoy the perks of a nation living beyond its means.

Was the Fed trying to convince itself foreclosure isn’t that bad? Would they roll out the pie charts and PowerPoint presentations to convince the rest of the financial community, Congress and the like, that homeowners don’t have to fear deterioration of lifestyle, maybe just a bit of downsizing?

Apple's latest iPhone comes with a virtual personal assistant, Siri, that responds to spoken commands to write emails, text messages, place phone calls and more. But by default, it does not shut off when the phone is locked, making it possible for an unauthorized user to access sensitive information.

Groups similar to Occupy Wall Street have sprouted up in cities across the country like crab grass in August. Now into their second month of protests, these young Americans are objecting to bank bailouts, foreclosures, millionaires, and even capitalism.

Security experts typically advise using Apple computers for sensitive tasks, such as online banking, because there are fewer viruses targeting the platform. But a new bug tears down one of Apple's major defenses.

Banks are ideally positioned to use their data on consumers' purchase histories and merchant relationships to send targeted daily-deal offers to customers. Groupon's random solicitations wouldn't stand a chance.

This is a particularly tough period for regulators and for bankers. We are still in a tenuous recovery from the 2008 financial shock and are living in the midst of a weak, indeed, anemic economy. Most banks have forgone profits for balance-sheet repair, as they should, with success: U.S. balance sheets are stronger today than before the financial crisis in 2008.

Washington's newest super-agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sprang into life in July. That bureau was granted remarkable powers by Congress. Consumers and businesses alike will depend on the stability and effectiveness of the new bureau. However, Congress unwittingly may have infected the bureau with the equivalent of a latent computer virus that could damage the CFPB's ability to function, and shatter the expectations of its supporters.

After cracking open an automated teller machine to extract the $6,000 it contained, burglars doused the crime scene in bleach to cover their tracks. Some of the suspects told police that the bleach idea came from a Ben Affleck film called "The Town."

The policy focus should be how to ensure no single financial institution becomes a single point of systemic failure – not how to mitigate the fallout when a SIFI fails.