ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured editorial from the Wall Street Journal, the board lays waste to the premise that more regulation and unlimited bailout powers will prevent the next asset bubble:
At long last, the financial reform debate is getting serious, which is to say it is getting to the major questions—specifically, how can we protect the American taxpayer from being held up one more time by the failure of the banking system?
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, deserves special credit for insisting this week that the fine print in the Democratic reform bills should match the rhetoric of Democratic leaders. The main author of the Senate bill, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, says the latest draft of his bill to reform financial regulation “will end bailouts.” We wish that were true. This evolving legislation still allows regulators to deploy unlimited sums to rescue financial giants, and with too much discretion.