RSPT anyone?

Via Peter Martin, here's an outline of Joe Hockey' terms of reference for a real Wallis Inquiry. They're a bit tilted towards how do we keep the 'whole ponzi going' and the greatest omission is any mention of mortgages but actually they are pretty good. And wide enough that anything missed will get in anyway.

The government is on a real loser here. The longer they delay, the stronger Joe gets. And he has the people on side.

The vested interests, however, are already well into their campaign against scrutiny and expect it to ramp up as the Wallis chant grows louder.

Just as they did in the case of the RSPT, Business Spectator and The Australian will lead it. Already both have done their level best to silence the debate, with Stutchbury, Hewitt, Albrechtsen, Stevens, Kohler, Bartholomeusz and Gottleibsen all arguing or fear-mongering against change. They really should get on with the mooted merger, those two. Today's strategy is clearly to ignore Hockey, presumably because he's making so much sense.

The Australian has begun trotting out quotes from fund managers threatening doom if we dare inspect our own financial services system.

Since when did transparency and disclosure harm markets?

In a bizarre parallel, however, the bank troglodytes have one advantage. It looks like we're about to run headlong into another global equities rout based around European contagion.

That is not going to support the political environment for change.