Actually since the dust bowl we had laws to regulate the financial sector and they worked for 3/4 of a century. Right before the collapse of the banks this time the SEC was watered down to the point where their lawyers were going to kinkos to use the copy machine because they didn't have a working one in the DC office (I read that post from one of the attorneys working for the SEC) Their budget was axed. There was this thought that banks could regulate themselves and learned from past mistakes .. well that was a trillion dollar plus gamble for the taxpayer that cost us all. That coupled with two expensive wars and we are now in the situation we are in. It is not really about new laws, it is about enforcement of what we had for 3/4 of a century .. when the government choose to ignore what worked, then we all had to pay the price or watch the dust bowl lines again occur. Mis-management by all parties, gov and private sector