“The financial reregulation package just passed by Congress is far from a comprehensive reform of American finance. Despite the enormous threat to the world’s financial markets created by the failure of Lehman Brothers and the stunning excesses of insurance giant AIG and banking conglomerate Citigroup, the reforms are in truth modest. Neither the Obama administration nor Congress opted to cut banks down to size, and the bill is only placing mild limits on risky banking activities. The giant financial institutions, meanwhile, are as big—even bigger—than ever and bankers’ compensation is once again at stunning levels.”

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Jeff Madrick, Obama’s Risky Business (via nybooks)

Former FED chairman Paul Volcker’s response to the passage of the bill: “We could have done better…”

Read John Cassidy’s piece on the Volcker Rule.

(via newyorker)