Too Big to Save? [C-SPAN]
Headline »
Too Big to Save? [C-SPAN]
February 8, 2010 – 9:58 am | No Comment

Robert Pozen looks at the causes of the 2008 financial collapse and says that the financial system needs to be reformed so that we don’t see a repeat down the road. He argues for changing the incentive system on Wall Street and calls for strengthening the government regulation of financial markets. (1 hours, 9 minutes)

Read the full story »
Video

Media Mentions

Book Reviews

Books

Written By

Flurry of new books explain the financial crisis [McClatchy Newspapers]
October 27, 2009 – 8:10 am | No Comment

“Too Big to Save?” — As the chairman of MFS Investment Management, author Robert Pozen has a keen sense of global finance. The subtitle explains his mission, “How to Fix the U.S. Financial System.” Tackles all things technical, from insurance-like credit default swaps to money markets and short selling of stocks … A tough but valuable read for anyone who’s interested in how America gets out of its financial mess. Should be required reading on Capitol Hill.

Want to fix Wall Street? If you’re Pozen, write a book [McClatchy Newspapers]
October 27, 2009 – 7:19 am | Comments Off

The last time that America heard from Robert Pozen, he was proposing a novel fix for Social Security that attracted bipartisan support in Congress, though it eventually fell short of enactment. Now, he has a plan for setting the financial system right.

By Kevin G. Hall.

Is It Fair to Blame Fair Value Accounting for the Financial Crisis? [HBR]
October 26, 2009 – 10:44 am | Comments Off
Is It Fair to Blame Fair Value Accounting for the Financial Crisis? [HBR]

After explaining the controversy, Pozen proposes a solution: new, transparent practices that would draw on the best of both historical cost and fair value accounting. If adopted, they could balance the banks’ desire to present assets in a good light with investors’ need to understand the banks’ exposures – and perhaps make everyone happy.

Mortgage Relief: A Better Approach [Harvard Business]
October 16, 2009 – 9:55 am | Comments Off
Mortgage Relief: A Better Approach [Harvard Business]

Back in February, the Obama Administration committed $75 billion to make mortgages more affordable to homeowners under financial pressure. Last week, however, the Congressional Oversight Panel for the financial bailout criticized the design of this mortgage modification program, and declared that “in the best case” it would prevent half as many foreclosures as the Administration predicted.

Pozen proposes a different kind of principal reduction program instead of the current mortgage modification program.

Too Big to Save?
October 12, 2009 – 6:07 pm | Comments Off
Too Big to Save?

Industry luminary Robert Pozen offers his insights on the future of U.S. finance

(With foreward by Robert J. Shiller, Yale University)

The recent credit crisis and the resulting bailout program are unprecedented events in the financial industry. While it’s important to understand what got us here, it’s even more important to consider how we should get out. While there is little question that immediate action was required to stabilize the situation, it is now time to look for a long-term ..read more

The Bernie Madoff Law: A Closer Look [Harvard Business]
October 11, 2009 – 8:17 am | Comments Off
The Bernie Madoff Law: A Closer Look [Harvard Business]

The House Banking Committee has just finished drafting a bill intended to stop anyone in the future from putting together another Bernie Madoff scam. It’s a worthy aim that I wholly endorse, but I worry that passing the current draft will introduce more arbitrariness and cost into the regulatory system without solving the problems revealed by the Madoff debacle.

Making the ‘public option’ a simple one [Boston Globe]
October 10, 2009 – 9:30 am | Comments Off
Making the ‘public option’ a simple one [Boston Globe]

Within the context of state-based Connectors implementing the individual mandate, the most viable definition of the public option is a state-based health care plan currently serving governmental employees. That approach would sidestep the ideological debate, while helping to achieve the consensus goal of constraining health care costs.

Massachusetts gets high marks in health care report [Boston Business Journal]
October 8, 2009 – 7:34 am | No Comment

Massachusetts is among the top states in the nation when it comes to access to and delivery of health care, according to a study by The Commonwealth Fund. Founded by philanthropist Anna Harkness in 1918, the Commonwealth Fund works to promote a high-performance health care system. Among its board members, most of whom hail from academia and medical backgrounds, is Bob Pozen, the chairman of MFS Investments in Boston.

Why We Need to Lower the FDIC Deposit Guarantee [Harvard Business]
October 5, 2009 – 6:26 pm | Comments Off
Why We Need to Lower the FDIC Deposit Guarantee [Harvard Business]

Unless we bring back the lower insurance limits for deposits, the FDIC’s rescue of failed banks could become very expensive. Taxpayers paid over $100 billion to resolve the S&L crisis, and Congress recently authorized the Treasury to lend the FDIC up to $500 billion.

Do you think that the limit on deposit insurance should go back again to $100,000?

Can the G-20 Get China to Spend and the US to Save? [Harvard Business]
September 28, 2009 – 9:26 am | Comments Off
Can the G-20 Get China to Spend and the US to Save? [Harvard Business]

The G-20, the group of the world’s largest economies, agreed last week to a US-led initiative called a “Framework for Sustainable and Balanced Growth.” This is an effort to rectify current global imbalances in trade and capital flows, in which the US runs huge trade deficits financed by huge Chinese investments in US Treasuries.

The solution? Chinese consumers should spend more and US citizens should save more. Progress on meeting these objectives will be monitored by the International Monetary Fund, which ..read more