. >> good morning, i'm bart epstein from the jefferson education at the university of virginia i've been sitting in the back row for the most of the time because i didn't realize i had a seat so thank you for the seat at the table. [ laughter ] i think the question you ask about what the government should and shouldn't be doing is very important because the federal government's role controlling the purse strings has a hugely distortive effect on the market and the analogy that i'd like to raise is a bit complicated but it's important and it has to do with the roots of the financial crisis. as many of you may know, the federal government chose not to directly engage with the ratings agencies, to not pay the ratings agencies. the federal government said ratings agencies, you're our agent, we're the principal, you're the agent, we're counting on you to police the issuers and to issue ratings that properly reflect the risk underlying these mortgages but the government then made the short-sighted decision to not directly pay the ratings agency. instead it said to the rating agencies, you get

bart epstein from the jefferson education at the university of virginia. been sitting in the back row for most of the time because i didn't realize i had a seat. >> welcome. >> thank you for the seat at the table. so i think the question you asked about what the government should and shouldn't be doing is very important because the federal government's role controlling the pursestrings has a hugely distortive effect on the market, and the analogy i would like to raise is a bit complicated but it's important and it has to do with the roots of the financial crisis. as many of you may know, the federal government chose not to directly engage with the ratings agencies, but -- and to not pay the ratings agencies. the federal government said ratings agencies, you are our agent. we are the principal, you are the agent, we are counting you on to police the issuers and to issue ratings that properly reflect the risk underlying these mortgages. but the government then made the short-sighted decision to not directly pay the ratings agencies. instead it said to the ra