The nation's top lawmakers revealed new plans to ensure that the credit crisis doesn't happen again within the United States today. Sound familiar? This time around policymakers recommended implementing licensing standards and more restrictions to avoid extending credit to those who cannot afford it. The other significant tidbit was a push for directing credit rating firms to differenciate ratings that cover complex structured products compared to conventional bonds. In the end, this is not the first time that the government has found a "solve-all" solution, so many investors remain skeptical...

From the Wall Street Journal:
The nation's top economic policy makers released their broadest blueprint yet for avoiding a recurrence of the credit crunch now threatening the economy. "Regulation needs to catch up with innovation and help restore investor confidence but not go so far as to create new problems, make our markets less efficient or cut off credit to those who need it," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday in a speech at the National Press Club. The policy makers' recommendations extend to nearly every niche in the credit markets -- from mortgage brokers to the Wall Street firms that package home loans into securities, to the credit-rating firms that assess the risk of those securities, to the regulators who police the system.