Mark Warner

One common theme from all of you has been--and I think accurately--reflecting that a great deal of the source of the crisis has come from the nonbank financial sector.

Now I will go save the republic and you can respond to Chairman Warner.

Excuse me. Could I just, Senator Schumer, just ask the panel all to try to answer quickly...

But wouldn't Senator Bennett's approach, that if you originated a product, then you have to keep it in there, that is not so much just protecting the consumer, but it may be also protecting this--putting some requirements of safety and…

We heard that before, and it was not like the U.K. was spared.

I think you teed up a very good point that--you know, and I come as a nonbiased party to this optional Federal charter or State charter debate.

If you choose to do a whole series of what would be viewed by someone as a risky product line, there would be additional cost to it.

The big question we have, we have no resolution authority for the whole nonbank half of the financial world that in many ways caused our problem.

We need to have some mechanism in a sense of a prefunding of resolution so that we do not end up as taxpayers being caught basically footing the bill

Which would be a difficult assessment to make at a State level.

I apologize, Mr. Chairman, for going on so long.

But somebody still has to define whether you are a riskier firm by your product line.

We ought to have a mechanism to allow that entity to go ahead and fail and not simply be propped up by taxpayer funds

I have got another--I am just going to make one quick comment, because I do not want to interfere on Senator Martinez's time.

I concur with his approach and that our goal ought to be allowing these institutions to actually fail in an orderly process and not be simply propped up ad infinitum.

I share the overwhelming view of the panel that systemic risk ought to not be placed with the Fed and ought to be empowered with a new independent council that includes the Fed.

I strongly, as I made clear, believe that the council is the right approach.

The economic crisis introduced a new term in our national vocabulary: 'systemic risk.'

We do not have a bill ready at all. There has been a lot of talk at this point.

What all of us want is to figure out what works best, what makes sense for us here.

Systemic risk is going to be an important factor in all of this.

I hope this Committee will have a chance to examine some of our past policies where we encouraged folks to get into homes with no documentation, no money down, no equity involved, no skin in the game, and clearly one of the things that…

It was not perfect and I share concerns about some of the dollars getting out.

I hope you will think, as you thought creatively in creation of this program in terms of the carrots, that you think equally creatively in terms of potential sticks or penalties.

I just am concerned with these kinds of stories that we are all hearing, and Lord knows you are hearing them directly, as well.