James Surowiecki Quotes

Regulators are very heavily lobbied and they tend to give in…. We must have strong, vigilant, regulators.

The existence of a free market does not of course eliminate the need for government. On the contrary, government is essential both as a forum and for determining the “rules of the game”.

I started out by viewing the marketplace as a cruel place, where you need intervention by government and lawyers to protect people. But after watching the regulators work, I have come to believe that markets are magical and the best protectors of the consumer. It is my job to explain the beauties of the free market.

Light touch regulation means that we create broad regulatory frameworks that can protect consumers to ensure an overall competitive marketplace.

Banks are concerned the central bank is imposing too many regulations. If the trend continues, we'll swing to heavy regulation. We need to have balanced regulation to encourage the economy.

We're one of the most highly regulated industries, and we have to pay attention to what government is doing.

The Federal Reserve has always recognized the importance of allowing markets to work, and government oversight of financial firms will never be fully effective without the aid of strong market discipline.

Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999.

Banking, I would argue, is the most heavily regulated industry in the world. Regulations don't solve things. Supervision solves things.

The railroads saw that they must either accept control by the State of control the State.

Many advantages … may be gained through the establishment of trade commissions, national and state. At first, we should be conservative in giving additional powers to these commissions. The powers given should be based upon the same principles that have been applied in the pure-food laws, and in the control of the public utilities. The American people always move slowly in these matters, and step by step. I should not expect that these trade commissions, if created, would at once be granted all the powers which they would finally exercise. In this matter I should expect the same slow development to take place that has occurred regarding the commissions which control the public utilities.

The regulators can’t do it. These institutions are just too large and complex.

Fannie Mae may have conformed to the rules but the rules didn’t conform to reality. A major bank or financial institution could meet every single regulatory requirement yet still be at the risk of collapse.

The first is determining how to deal with the great industrial combinations is knowledge of the facts—publicity.

The Federal Trade Commission is not an enforcement agency.

I have been trying to understand the regulators.

Do you want to get rid of the rules of the road? Do you want to let everybody just do whatever they want to do? Or do you want to really look out for the consumer, look out for the American people, and figure out ways to create and foster an environment where companies want to double down on America?

We want a free market, but we know that the paradox of a 'free' market is that sometimes you have to intervene. You have to make sure it's not the law of the jungle but the laws of democracy that works.

We must work toward cyber doctrine that reflects the wisdom of free markets, private competition, and the important but limited role of government in establishing and enforcing the rule of law, honoring the rights of personal property, the benefits of free and fair trade, and the fundamental principles of liberty.

If you ever had the misfortune of reading all 2,000 pages of Dodd-Frank, which I have done - and it almost killed me - basically, all it does is create a list of all the things it wants the Fed to fix.

There is certainly a role for regulation, but regulation should always take into account the impact that it has on markets, a balance that must be constantly weighed.

I can't remember one [example of regulation] that's good. Regulation of transport, regulation of agriculture - agriculture is a, zoning is z. You know, you go from a to z, they are all bad. There were so many studies, and the result was quite universal: The effects were bad.

Dodd-Frank is 2,000 pages long. It covers thousands of rules, regulations, interpretations and things like that.

I think we're fooling ourselves if we think that regulators are going to be able to outsmart the bankers. So, the task of designing regulatory reform is trying to make more or less foolproof regulation and that's one of the advantages of the systemic category.

Meaningful rules in the consumer credit market can accelerate economic recovery. Rules would increase consumer confidence and, more importantly, weed out all the tricks and traps that sap families of billions of dollars annually.