Proposed money market regulations should be passed, would better
inform consumers of risk   The following editorial appeared
recently in the Kansas City Star:  As the financial crisis
intensified in September 2008, the value of a money market fund
fell below the $1 value that such funds strive to maintain. The
federal government was forced to step in with a temporary
guarantee, which averted a destabilizing run that would have
worsened the panic gripping financial markets.  It was only the
second time in the four-decade history of such funds — typically
offered in brokerage accounts — that a money-market fund's value
had "broken the buck," or dropped below $1. It was a lesson for
many investors that such accounts aren't risk free.  Now,
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Shapiro has
proposed a plan to make that lesson more clear while reducing
the risk that taxpayers would have to finance another money-fund
bailout.  Her proposal would give money-market funds a choice.
They could set aside a sma