Financial reformers have a chance to give stressed-out markets a desperately needed reality check.
This month's near collapse of Bear Stearns (BSC, Fortune 500) has brought new urgency to the debate about how to shore up the financial sector. Fears that another firm will implode, and the observation that individuals have reaped millions of dollars in pursuit of policies that led their employers to the edge of the abyss, are fueling a drive to strengthen oversight of financial firms.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank has called for a program of "sensible regulation" that could involve the creation of a systemic risk watchdog. In an opinion piece published Friday in The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer laid out six points that legislators must consider in undertaking any overhaul.
