April, 12, 2010

The betting is that Congress will pass a financial regulatory reform bill.It’s hard to claim — as some in the financial industry do — that, almost two years after the system’s near collapse, Congress is moving with undue haste. One might hope that out of this slow, deliberative process would emerge a finely tuned bill, weighing the benefits of regulation with potential costs.

But this delay was the financial industry’s strategy. It hoped that with an economic recovery, calls for reform would fade and it could return to business as usual.The economy, however, has not recovered. The contrast between persistent unemployment and declining incomes for most Americans and outsize profits and bonuses on Wall Street has inflamed passions.Our regulatory system failed partly because we had regulators who didn’t believe in regulation.

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