Sweeping Financial Reform?

The Democrats’ financial reform bill is another one of those 2,000-page monstrosities that no one has read, and hardly anyone knows what is in it. Channeling Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd says that “No one will know until this is actually in place how it works.” That’s partly because, as happens so often with legislation of this type, the details are left mostly to either newly-created or existing government agencies (e.g., the Fed) who will decide what the bill really means through their rule-making powers. My impression is that some of the bill’s provisions are probably OK; others will needlessly raise the cost of banking; and one consequence will be that many small banks will go out of business. One thing we know for sure, however, is that the bill does nothing to reform two financial institutions that need reform a lot more than Citigroup and Goldman Sachs–Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Michael Ramirez comments; click to enlarge: