Monsters under thebed, hobgoblins and other things that go bump in the night bringfear into the minds of regulators.

None should ever be the reason for regulatory overreach.Regulations are necessary to control the flow of criticalactivities, but not impede them. Perceived potential problems orproblems that regulations cannot resolve are poor excuses forregulatory activity. Historic or fact based controllable problemsare legitimate reasons to promulgate well developed regulations.Uncertainty of the present time makes reflection that much moreimportant.

I had a discussion with a new client about interest rates. He was heavily invested in bond funds. He must have beenlistening to some talking head on TV or reading the NCUA chiefeconomist's interest rate predictions. He had not yet achievedhis 6^th decade and had limited understanding of thecautionary tale that I gave him about interest rates in the late70s and early 80s. He stated he and his wife were in grad schoolworking on their PhDs, so they did not really experience theeconomic impact of interest rate fluctuations of the late 70s andearly 80s. I really started to feel real old as my memory ofbeing excited about scoring a 13.5% mortgage on my home purchasewas brought back.