Dodd-Franks Bill Passes--BFD Take Two

The Wall Street Reform bill finally was allowed to be voted on by a 60 to 38 margin and the actual bill passed again with 60 in favor and 38 against. And true to form, John Boehner vows to repeal it in the next congress and Lamar Alexander wants to do the same in the Senate. President Obama will sign the bill next week. It has been hyped as the most major reform of our financial system since the Great Depression. Actually alot of it is returning to the regulatory state we had before the early 1990s. While critics claim that it still allows Too Big Too Fail, that's not technically true. Regulators are allowed to step in if a bank looks like it will threaten the health of our economy as many did during the 2008 meltdown. But there are many safeguards built into the bill, which at least will prevent a regime of Great Panics, which the Republicans appear to want.

Like alot of reform bills, this will be as good as it is implemented in reality. What's important now is the designation of a forceful head of the first Consumer Agency, which is the most visible and public friendly innovation in the bill. Hopefully, Washington rumors will turn out to be true with the nomination of Elizabeth Warren, who said in the past if the Consumer Agency was not in the bill she wanted to see lots of blood and teeth on the Senate floor.

The bill is already being blasted by Huffington Post and others as not going far enough, just like the healthcare bill. But it is a major accomplishment, even if it doesn't pay immediate dividends for the Democrats. Senator Chris Dodd saved the best for his last year with this bill and also his major work on Healthcare reform. And Barney Frank's work on the reconciliation conference saved many of the tough measures that were not watered down in the Senate.

Meanwhile, BP has announced it has finally stopped the flood of oil into the Gulf. While the announcement is provisional, pending further tests, it is welcomed news. Now maybe we can finally start evaluating the total damage done to the ecosystem and move forward with the Senate's clean energy bill.

Ayn Rand confidente and disciple Alan Greenspan today announced that the Bush tax cuts for the rich should not be continued.

And another poll shows that the American people by wide margins reject the idea that Social Security has any consequences for the national debt and want it maintained, especially given the current Deep Recession. In fact, they are right, Social Security only runs into problems in the year 2037 but the United States took 2 trillion out of it to pay for the deficits during the W years. On paper, everything is fine. It was Ronald Reagan in 1983 who ensured that Social Security would pay for the baby boomers with the bipartisan agreement reached then. the idea in the Clinton years was that the budget surplusses would stabilize Medicare for the future.