Once More, With ... Something

So we are again treated to what has become an annual tradition:  the analysis of Dodd-Frank on its anniversary.  The Republicans trot out a report critical of the Act, and the Democrats defend it.  Yawn.

Actually, this year the Republican report is not half bad.  Sure it contains the usual rubbish about the Community Reinvestment Act, which really had nothing to do with the crisis.

But in many respects, it raises good points and real concerns about whether Dodd-Frank actually solved the "too big to fail" problem, and whether regulators got off too easy by saying they needed new powers, while barely using the ones they already had.

The name on the cover will scare off some Slips readers – Chairman Hensarling's politics are rather strident, to put it mildly.  But the report deserves to be read.

On the other hand, former Congressman Frank's retort that "[t]he Dodd-Frank Act is clear:  Not only is there no legal authority to use public money to keep a failing entity in business, the law forbids it" is something of a head scratcher.

The law against bailouts is binding on Congress in the same way that Conan Doyle was bound by his decision to send Holmes to Reichenbach Falls.  

Dodd-Frank was a start, but we should not pretend it is perfect.  The Republican report raises some very important questions – I likely disagree with them about how to address those questions, but that does not take away from their importance.