Adam Zagorin and Michael Weisskopf wrote a very critical article in Time Magazine about Christopher Cox’s tenure with the Securities and Exchange Commission: The Inside Story on the Breakdown at the SEC. The authors use Cox as a symbol of what went wrong with the US financial system, resulting it its current meltdown. They paint a picture of a leader who avoided dealing with investment banks and pushed for de-regulation at a time the markets needed more regulation.
Long an evangelist for deregulation, the affable 56-year-old conservative former California Congressman took a custodial approach to a job that called for muscular leadership. . . . . Indeed, longtime observers say, Cox allowed complacency and drift at an agency that was created to issue warnings and limit the potential for wider damage from financial malfeasance at publicly traded companies.
Bashing the SEC has gotten very popular lately. This article continues the trend, placing the blame at the top.