My concern is that the Fed had the power to increase margin requirements during the tech bubble and never did.
What would make us think that new Fed powers would be of any value?

In concept all of the proposed changes sound good - and that is the message that is intended. However it does present some rudimentary problems - ones that our system has been haggling over for a vast period of time. Which is better, more or less government? Our present state of affairs is NOT the result of the lack of regulation, on the contrary, it is the result of lack of implementation. In plain English, the controls were there, the people responsible were there and the various agencies were there, agencies and people not being redundant. Congress and it's financial committees are not an agency. Since anyone in this group could have imposed or suggested restraint in the lending practices that began in 2002 it would appear that the proposed changes are little more than a smoke screen.
I prefer this approach: I would like someone to ask Rep. Franks and his committee how they missed this. They are all Congressmen/women and all have contact with their election district. They are all on a finance committee. They get reports from all areas of government. They have both suggestive and legislative power If a large group of intelligent and financially knowledgeable elected officials did not see a cause for alarm, new rules will not change anything. What we really need are elected officials that can differentiate reality from what they are being told by lobbyists.

Aside from the obvious problem that the FED is (at least theoretically) independent of the political system, the problems that we face today, and that this lame duck "administration" ought to be dealing with, involve direct economic aid to the consumer and the mortgage banking system which are in free fall. It's a sophisticated, but obvious, attempt by the Bush group to play hide-the-ball by trying to divert attention to matters three or more years in the distance.

This agency is only another way they can screw us the little people out of more money if they could do something why wasn't it done along time ago only to protect the BIG SHOT GREEDY CO'S?

Ok
why dontr you get rid of the wash sale crock then? I dont care for 30 day wait before and after so I trade stocks regardlessly.

The Federal Reserve's role as the premiere global central bank ? Global central bank ? Does this mean we accept the liability when a bank in another part of the world fails are we to bail them out ? Are we going to become the bail out slaves of the world banks backed by our tax dollars ? We do not need this liability ever. The Fed should be forced to go bankrupt and dump their debt. We the people need a privately owned fed so we can dump them and their debt just like any other private institution. This was how we were to prevent the fed from being dishonest so if they are dishonest like it appears they are we say goodbye sorry you did business with them you lose not the tax payers responsibility ? Got it !

If our government works as intended, our EPA would have required that we install smog control systems in our chimneys and stove pipes to reduce air pollution. There is always so much oversight amok everywhere despite my countless repeated pleas to implement smog control systems for millions and millions of our home chimneys and stove pipes not to mention charcoal grills and street smokers... Our government just dont listen and act on its own beltway mentalities...

I think it is much more urgent to regulate frequent firewood users than to give the Fed more useless powers... We are dying like flies while breathing firewood smoke unsmelled and unseen.... Soot and particulates blanket the air that we cant see the mountains... We blame coal fired powerplants with billions worth of smog control systems already installed. We blamed cars with billions worth of smog control systems installed. We blame evertyting else but Al Gore and his monster fireplace@@@

We love democracy
We love democracy
We love democracy
come sing with me....
We love democracy
We love democracy
We love democracy
cmon
We love democracy
We love democracy
We love democracy

Proposal to give the Federal Reserve new regulatory power is exactly what this Country doesn't need! It's just more of the same garbage that's put us in the situation we're in now! Also it's unconstitutional and it's time that WE THE PEOPLE put a STOP to all this distruction that our forfathers set up for us in the Constitution! I for one say WAKE UP MY FELLOW AMERICANS and let's do the right thing and take back our Country!

The Federal Reserve should have more power in the management of risk in the financial system. The ruling elite (the national government) really has no choice but to regulate the system much more and to exercise such power to do so. If they do not, eventually another credit crisis or some other financial crisis will come up and if nothing is done about it, it will literally take down the whole U.S. economy into deep recession.

I think the Fed should directly control the interest rates that banks can charge to borrowers. To put it in a nut shell, greedy banks trying to charge too high of interest on adjustable rate loans is what started the whole present financial crisis of foreclosures and the credit crunch.

The only problem that America faces today is the Federal Reserve. Never should have the American political criminals ever turned over the coining, printing, and issuing of money that belongs to the citizens of the United States, over to a private organization that is completely unaccountable to anyone. Until we, the people, repeal the 13th Amendment & the 16th Amendment, the private bankers will continue forward with their agendas and scams until even your own children will be homeless on a continent that our forefathers fought for. They knew then what the banking monsters would do. But, we don't seem to notice, and no one seems to care. Why not?
All our economic issues, wars, manufacturing, jobs, etc..are all manipulated, controlled, and can be easy traced back every time to the criminal scam artists at the Federal Reserve.
Eliminate the Amendments that allow this behavior and with in 5 years, we would be a productive leading country once again. Don't, and we all get exactly what we deserve.
Let's come together.

Ever wonder why there isn't one word mentioned from any politician, newscaster, or newspaper that call for the immediately removal and dismissal of the Federal Reserve Bank?
It was once said, years ago, that "There is something out there that some of the most powerful men in the industry of commerce and manufacture are afraid of.
Something so organized, so subtle, so overseeing, so pervasive, so inter-locked that they don't dare speak above a whisper when talking in condemnation of it".
That was in the late 1800's, how strong and inter-locked are they today?
Do you really think some knucklehead with an inferior single shot rifle, no friends, a loner, shot 3 shots from a 3rd story window, and hit someone in a moving car from behind?
No one other than Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and John F. Kennedy have ever stood up to the bankers. And, all were assassinated, Jefferson had two pistols misfire when they attempted to assassinate him. The perpetrator was released from prison, after being convicted, within a year, and moved to England. How interesting.
When you speak in condemnation, they kill.
Is this the system we want governing how we live?
Then please, talk only of this issue. If we do, we can win, all other fights are only distractions.