U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that it is clear that the government could have done more to prevent the economic downfall. In a prepared testimony, Geithner said that gaps and weaknesses in the regulatory framework governing banks and other financial institutions “presented challenges” to the government's ability to monitor and address risky market bets. One problem, he said, is that no single regulator saw its job as protecting the economy and financial system as a whole. The administration's plan, which Geithner will outline Thursday before the Senate Banking Committee, calls for the Federal Reserve to do that job supported by a new council of regulators.
