The Politics of MF Global

Des Moines Register:

Republicans hauled Corzine before the House Agriculture Committee this week to grill him about his role in the collapse of MF Global, which he took over after losing his relection bid as New Jersey governor in 2009. “I never intended to break any rules,“ Corzine told the committee.
But Democrats are taking advantage of the MF Global debacle to hit Republicans over their resistance to reforms at the Commodity Futures Trading Committee, which regulates grain and oil futures and other forms of derivatives.
“Some of my friends on the other side of the Capitol seem hell-bent and ready to assign blame for MF Global to the CFTC for what they perceive as failing to do their jobs. Do we blame the police officer the day after our house gets broken into? Of course not,” said Rep. Collin Peterson, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.
Peterson conceded that “it is very possible that there is nothing” in the Dodd-Frank reform bill passed in 2010 that would have prevented the MF Global collapse. But that’s no reason to roll back the Dodd-Frank provisions as Republicans are seeking to do, Peterson said.
“Given what happened here we should probably be talking about strengthening Dodd-Frank, not weakening it,” Peterson said. “Three big financial firm bankruptcies over a three year period is not a track record that should be extended.”

Republicans: "Democrats like Corzine are corrupt."
Democrats: "Republicans want to let all traders steal by getting rid of regulations."

For once, I think they are both right.