Financial Reform

Requiring financial institutions [nice expression for what many of them really are] to have an economic stake in derivitives sounds like a good idea on its face. One would think that if they would have suffered from rather than been immeasurably enriched by the derivitive market that had so much to do with screwing up the world economy, things might have been different.

Having said that, it's reasonable to expect that the legislation contains more loopholes to benefit the super-rich and Wall Street bandits so that little goodie will be outweighed by bad stuff. The bill would have benefitted immensely by contributions from the Republicans, but their official stance "Wall Street doesn't need regulating" kind of put paid to that.

Overall, we're going to have to wait and see if the bill does any good. Count on this, though. If things continue to get better economically, the Democrats will cite the Bill and the Obama administration's other "fixes." Similarly, if there's a long-term, short-term, or even five-minute pause or dip in the recovery, it and the other Obama administrations other "fixes" will be blamed.

In reality, what President Bush did shortly before leaving office and what President Obama did in his first six months in office to continue President Bush's initiative are the reason why the crash wasn't bigger and why it's been turning around for a while now.

There's no reason for either side to get all partisan about this, of course, unless scoring points and getting a quote on 24/7 news is more important than helping the country.