From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Regulating the regulators. Can a broken financial system be fixed?

I'm Sarah Terry sitting in for Warren Allney, and this is to the point from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. Where were the regulators? With an economy and meltdown and one financial scandal after another making breaking news, it's a question that

won't go away. Were government watchdogs muzzled by deregulation or just asleep on the job?

Who was regulating whom?

What kind of reform is needed to protect the economy from the freewheeling dealing

that led to widespread financial failures?

On reporter's notebook, Little Bill Clinton's American Life,

a year-long story about a young refugee from Africa.

First, the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. I'm Sarah Terry, sitting in for Warren Olney, back with To the Point from

PRI. In 2002, when Wall Street scandals like Enron and Worldcom rocked the business world, the federal

government prosecuted 513 cases of securities fraud. In the first 11 months of 2008, there were just 133 prosecutions.

What's happened to the nation's system of securities regulation and what's needed to reform it?

On reporter's notebook, the story of little Bill Clinton and his family, how refugees from an African

conflict are coping with life in America.

First, this news update. After four days of air strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza

strip, Israeli officials are reportedly considering a temporary truce to give Hamas militants an

opening to stop firing rockets on Israel. But earlier today, defense minister

...