Financial reform. Woohoo?

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The financial reform bill has finally passed.  Should we celebrate or feel even more disgusted that Washington cannot extract itself from the grips of Wall St. lobbyists?  Disgusted, says Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), the only Democratic Senator to not support the bill and the reason?  Because it will do nothing to protect us from the sort of Wall St. practices- like bundled derivatives and excess interest rates on mortgages and credit cards- that brought about the Great Recession.  According to Feingold,

The reckless practices of Wall Street sent our economy reeling, triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression, and left millions of Americans to foot the bill. Despite these cataclysmic events, Washington once again caved to Wall Street on key issues and produced a bill that fails to protect the American people from the pain of another economic disaster. I will not support a bill that fails to adequately protect the people of Wisconsin from the recklessness of Wall Street.”

Sure, the reform does manage to create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and some oversight of the Federal Reserve, but with Wall St. spending hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying since January 2009, it’ s not a huge surprise that the reform will stop short of actually protecting our economy from Wall St.’s recklessness.  Even Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who supported the bill and wrote some of its provisions, pointed out in an email to constituents that the reform does nothing to break up

banks deemed “too big to fail.” Incredibly, three of the four biggest banks in the country are larger today than they were before taxpayers bailed them out. Sanders also wanted the bill to impose a cap on runaway credit card interest rates. Senators rejected an even more modest proposal to let states enforce their own usury laws.

So whatever the reform is worth, it is hardly worth popping the cork on the champaign.  Unless of course you are a lobbyist for Wall St.  In which case, you can be drinking to a job well done.