Eliot Spitzer: New Banking Reforms a Regulatory Charade (3min.)

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Runtime: 3min.

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer says the new wave of banking laws coming out of Congress is a "regulatory charade." He argues all of the mechanisms were already in place to avoid the financial crisis, but regulators failed to use the power they already had. [Nov. 12, 2009 (?)]

Full 1hr. 38min. Program Here.

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Re: Eliot Spitzer: New Banking Reforms a Regulatory Charade (3min.)

Another short piece by Spitzer -- Is it time for revenge yet?

The system is broken, the banking system that is, says former New York Gov. and State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

On the cusp of bonus season on Wall Street, Spitzer blasted U.S. banks for their imminent multimillion dollar executive compensation packages, telling CBS' "The Early Show" Monday their profits were built solely on taxpayer-funded bailouts. "They (banks) believe they are entitled to these crazy sums of money," Spitzer said. "It is inequitable, it is wrong."

Despite the recession, financial firms had a blockbuster year. For some chief executives and top producers, they could be getting bonuses with six, seven or even eight figures, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor.

White House Economic Adviser Christina Romer fired the administration's latest shot toward Wall Street, saying Sunday that the bonuses were "ridiculous," adding that it will "offend the American people."

Asked what needs to change, Spitzer, who was once known as the "sheriff of Wall Street" before a sex scandal with a prostitute while New York governor destroyed his political career, was blunt: "We need a different banking system."

He said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, with whom he regularly clashed when Geithner was the head of the New York Fed, "embraces the old vision of what banking should be."

"Right now we don't have a template for reform that is adequate," Spitzer said. "We need something fundamentally different."

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