Every two years the Government Accountabiliy Office publishes a list of what are politely called "high risk" federal programs -- ie., ones that don't work. (As in, the Detroit Lions are at high risk of not making it into this year's Super Bowl.) This year, in a bold stroke of analysis, GAO has decided that U.S. financial regulations leave something to be desired.

THE OUTDATED U.S. FINANCIAL REGULATORY SYSTEM. The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression has revealed major weaknesses in the U.S. financial regulatory system, which failed to keep pace with recent market trends, such as the emergence of large, interconnected financial conglomerates, and the development of new, often complex, investment products. In the near term, strong oversight is needed to ensure that the huge sums being deployed by the Treasury Department and other government entities are achieving their goals and are being used efficiently. Long term, GAO believes that modernizing the U.S. financial regulatory system and aligning it to current conditions is an essential step to reducing the likelihood that our nation will experience another financial crisis similar to the current one.

Other problem areas include the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of medical products and the Environmental Protection Agency's monitoring of poisonous chemicals.