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No, but you might think so from reading Robert Reich below, who says:
Eight months ago it looked as if Wall Street was in store for strong financial regulation -- oversight of derivative trading, pay linked to long-term performance, much higher capital requirements, an end to conflicts of interest (i.e. credit rating agencies being paid by the very companies whose securities they're rating), and even resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial from investment banking.Now, Congress is struggling to produce the tiniest shards of regulation that would at least give the appearance of doing something to rein in the Street.Reich doesn't present any evidence that this statement is true, because there isn't much evidence in support of his position. Nearly everything he describes is still very much part of financial regulatory reform and is moving forward on the Hill. Yesterday, Barney Frank's committee in the House passed the first legislation for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which is a major victory for progressives. House Committees also passed the first derivatives regulations bills, which represent a step in the right direction if not a complete solution. Both provisions will be strengthened on the House floor, and it is likely, in an unusual twist, the the Senate will actually provide a stronger bill than the House. Higher capital requirements, leverage limits, and compensation reform are all moving forward in the executive branch and on Capitol Hill as well, albeit slowly thanks to the fact that health-care reform is sucking up much of Washington's oxygen. True, returning to the days of Glass-Steagall isn't on the table, and the proposals surrounding rating agencies are weak at best -- no one is arguing that this is a perfect plan, or that it can't be improved. The money that banks are giving to politicians is both unpleasant and unsurprising. But though it may be fashionable to throw up one's hands and proclaim the end of financial regulatory reform, the facts of the situation are much more complex, and promising, than that simplistic depiction.
-- Tim Fernholz
