US prepares to give Fed sweeping new oversight

The US government is set Monday to propose sweeping new oversight powers to the Federal Reserve, including tighter surveillance of financial markets in a bid to avoid calamities like the current "subprime" lending crisis.
The nation's financial regulatory agencies have been accused by experts of failing to recognise rampant excesses in mortgage lending until after they set off what is now seen as the worst American financial crisis in decades. "With very few exceptions, most of this blueprint should not and will not be implemented until after the present market difficulties are past," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.