Subject: File No. S7-41-11
From: Alfred J Michelhaus
Affiliation: Accountant

December 26, 2011

While no one knows exactly the long term effects of the financial crisis, book after book, authored by reputable Wall Street Journal and NY Times journalists, has shed immense light onto the systemic problems of the banks and investment banks that nearly cratered our financial system. One can blame it on greed, but the real culprit was simply that the regulations were not strong enough. Armies of lawyers and accountants found carve outs to every rule by issuing legal and audit opinions. These opinions were molded to the desires of the clients to sustain the revenues. There was no watchdog. And, given the MF Global bankruptcy where the Chief Risk Officer was pushed aside by a CEO who wanted to take more risk, it leads the average American to want a system that is regulated whereby a failure will not wipe away the savings of many Americans. Please do not prevent this from happening again and please be mindful that our government had to save the system and now you must create regulations with true limitations. Capitalism will be stronger for it.