timothy geithner, on the financial crisis

"Yes, critics have certainly argued that the regulatory agencies and watchdogs should have seen the financial crisis coming and instituted proper measures to avert further escalation. But that argument is based on the mistaken belief that government officials actually do their jobs. They don't. In fact, they can't. No one can. The real world, the labyrinth of the global money grid, is far too complex for any so called regulatory agency to hold anything more than fictive power. Believing that the government could lord over such chaos is, to quote Harry Truman, not only retarded, but retarded.'

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, June 28, 2009, testifying before the House Committee on Financial Services.