John Mauldin’s weekly email newsletter on economics and investment is generally worth a read: it’s a good digest of opinion and Mauldin himself is a humane commentator on current economic affairs. It has an Austrian/Ron Paul feel to it, but Mauldin is not a tub-thumping ideologue. He's trying to understand the economy for himself and his investment clients. The core of his letter of 9th April is a strong plea for reform of the financial sector.

It remains staggering that nothing significant has been done, that we continue to mess with the details rather than get to grips with the issues. The lobbying by deep-pocketed interests is a big part of it, as Mauldin says. I think the inveterate optimism of politicians, particularly during an election campaign as for months now in the UK, is also a concern. Nobody wants to tell anyone the hard news or tackle the disease. If they were doctors, they would have been struck off years ago.

Mauldin begins with a discussion of the political shenanigans over the governance of the US Federal Reserve – worth catching up on if you’re interested. He then moves on to financial sector reform, which is really worth reading and I have fileted here.