[jonmoore]

In this case Chotiner didn’t come back at weak arguments as much as he often does. In particular Frank downplayed the importance of stress tests, arguing variously that they are procedural, mostly about contagion, don’t concern the “physical”, i.e. capital, condition of banks, and wouldn’t have helped because “this all came up very suddenly”. This is all incorrect.

Likewise when Frank argues in favor of his working for the banking industry, this raises conflicts of interests for legislators and potential for undue and hard-to-detect influence in a way that e.g. taking an academic position concerning banking or lobbying for gay rights would not.