Banks Need Simple, Tough Capital Rules: Phil Angelides

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- When JPMorgan Chase & Co. ChiefExecutive Officer Jamie Dimon appeared before the FinancialCrisis Inquiry Commission, he testified that he told hisdaughter a financial crisis is something that happens every fiveto seven years. That observation turned out to be overlyoptimistic.

Once again, the world’s financial leaders are cobblingtogether a rescue package to avert the potential failure ofhighly leveraged financial institutions holding assets ofquestionable value. This time, the epicenter of the crisis isEurope, not the U.S., and the assets at issue are not toxicmortgages and derivatives, but plain vanilla government bonds.How could the latest round of global financial turmoil betriggered by something as simple as government debt?