People keep talking about the need for a new financial regulatory structure, but Brookings actually steps into the breach today and tries to outline what it should look like. Smart move. One of the lessons progressives should take from the turmoil of the past few weeks is the need to be in front of events so your legislation can define the conversation around solutions, rather than being reactive to whatever is proposed. After Paulson came out with a plan to buy assets, for instance, that's really all you heard about, and some equity measures were tacked on to appease the left. Assets defined the debate. If progressives had been aggressive with a plan based around purchasing equity, and proposed it right after the AIG bailout, you might have seen Paulson reacting to the proposal, or offering something more balanced. Similarly, you can pretty well predict that there's going to be some serious efforts to construct a new regulatory structure for Wall Street. If progressives did some thinking now about what they want that to look like, they'll have a better chance of setting the terms of the debate when the time comes.
