''Under Pressure, Biggest Banks Rely on 3 Myths''

From NYTimes
By Simon Johnson

''As I wrote here last week, Sarah Bloom Raskin, a governor of the Federal Reserve, has emerged as an important voice calling for rethinking crucial aspects of big banks, including why they should have implicit government backing for their securities and trading operations. Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, and Jon Huntsman, the former Republican presidential candidate, have also expressed articulate and well-informed proposals for making big banks less dangerous – primarily by forcing them to become smaller.

In this context, you should read Neil Barofsky’s new book, “Bailout,” a compelling critique of how the bailout was handled, including the treatment afforded to banks and the relative lack of effort that went into directly addressing problems with mortgages.

The pushback from the Obama administration is that Mr. Barofsky is some form of populist, in contrast to the supposedly responsible professionals of the Treasury Department (many of whom were previously or have subsequently become employees of large financial companies).''

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