, Columnists
A Step Backward in Financial Regulation
The Choice Act would reverse much of the legislation adopted after the financial crisis, making the banking system less safe.
Doubt this pair is smiling now.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The scarring experience of the financial crisis of 2008, and the federal government’s actions to avert widespread chaos in the financial system, remain poorly understood events across the political landscape.
Although Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 to prevent such crises from recurring, some of its provisions reflect that poor understanding. Rather than surgical precision, Dodd-Frank took an inefficient broad-brush approach to making the financial system safer. And despite being overly burdensome, it failed to address a range of issues, including the need to streamline the regulatory framework itself.