NEW YORK CITY – As the United States works to stabilize the economy, there are several big questions to be answered, said William H. Donaldson, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, and a member of President-Elect Barack Obama's transition team panel of economic advisors. Speaking to an audience of high-level policymakers, academic and business leaders on Monday morning, Donaldson observed that there's no clarity on what recipients of funds from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package can and cannot do with the capital.

Donaldson was interviewed by National Public Radio’s Robert Siegel at the Policy Breakfast Series hosted by Public Agenda and the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

"The equity that's been put into the banks is non-voting equity, so in that sense, the government doesn't have a lot to say [about how the bailout money is used]," said Donaldson, who calls the terms of the bailout deal "very opaque," and said banks have been sitting on the capital and not re-loaning it – a practice he suggests is not in keeping with the purpose of the bailout.

Donaldson remarked that "there is no silver bullet" to prevent the next big financial problem for Wall Street and the economy, but mentioned he would have done a few things differently at the Securities Exchange Commission if he had another chance, especially in regards to regulating derivatives, and spin-off financial instruments like credit default swaps. "We went to the Federal Reserve," said Donaldson, "and said: 'Look, we've got this problem – can we do something jointly about this?" A joint effort did not result, however. "We didn't have the authority [to act on derivatives], but we could have undertaken a political battle."

Looking at the road ahead, Donaldson highlighted a key difference between the crises of yesterday and the one we're facing now. When it comes to financial regulation, said Donaldson, "We're no longer isolated… we can get our house in order – but it will be meaningless unless there is global regulation." Global regulation, he added, will not be easy to achieve, and agreement on principles is more likely.

The policy breakfast series is a private event for supporters of Public Agenda and the Maxwell School, however, video of the event is at http://maxwell-publicagendaseries.org/ A full transcript of the event will be posted to the site as soon as it becomes available.

Past Public Agenda/Maxwell School policy breakfasts have featured leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman, Congressman Charles Rangel, Paul Begala, Counselor to the President in the Clinton Administration and CNN analyst, Former CIA Deputy Director, Bobby Inman, former Congressional Budget Office Director and current advisor of Obama's Transition Economic Transition Team Paul Volcker. Transcripts and some multimedia are available for some of those past events on the Maxwell/Public Agenda breakfast series website.

PUBLIC AGENDA, www.publicagenda.org, is a nonprofit organization with a mission to strengthen our democracy’s capacity to tackle tough issues by ensuring that the public’s views are well represented in decision-making and that citizens have the best possible conditions and opportunities to engage in public life and help shape our common destiny. Founded in 1975 by former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Daniel Yankelovich, the social scientist and author, Public Agenda fulfills its mission with nonpartisan, in-depth opinion research and public issues analysis; the creation and dissemination of nonpartisan citizen issue guides; community-based public engagement initiatives; leadership briefings and dialogues; and communications in its many forms, from media partnerships to online engagement.

THE MAXWELL SCHOOL of Citizenship and public Affairs, founded in 1924, is the premier academic institution in the United States committed to scholarship, civic leadership, and education in public and international affairs. Maxwell is home to Syracuse University’s social science departments and to numerous nationally recognized multidisciplinary graduate programs in public policy, international studies, social policy and conflict resolution. Maxwell’s graduate program in public administration – the first of its kind – is ranked consistently the best in the nation.