Financial re-regulation: check! Here’s a great graphic summarizing what wound up in the final bill. For each category of re-regulation, Jon Hilsenrath explains what problems existed, the solutions Congress came up with and the chances that those solutions will work. It’s a great compilation, one worth checking out.
As I’ve been digging into the details of the final bill, I’ve been struck by how middle-of-the-road it seems. Yes, some people are claiming that the new legislation goes way too far and will devastate the availability of credit, and others are saying that it went nowhere near far enough and will do little to prevent the next crisis. Increasingly, though, I think that the truth might lie pretty much in the middle—that for all the political posturing, we wound up with a decent bill that strikes a legitimate compromise between making the financial system safer and preserving its ability to innovate.
In the WSJ‘s monthly poll of economists, most felt optimistic about the outcome. Seventy-eight percent said that the bill “slightly,” “modestly” or “significantly” reduced the risk of a repeat of a 2008-style financial crisis. Many more economists were in the “slightly” than the “significantly” camp, but considering all the rhetoric around how this bill would grind the economy to a halt, I’d count that as a victory.
Of course, as my colleague Adam Sorensen explains, there are still plenty of details to work out. But the bill is passed and the biggest questions are answered. Now we wait and see what happens the next time a massive asset bubble is lobbed our way.
UPDATE: Matt Yglesias agrees with me.
