I’ve wanted to write something about the financial reform bill for a while now, but school and work and wedding planning and campaigning and the rest of real life have conspired against me. I did, however, find this post on the Freakonomics blog asking a few experts on what they would do to simplify the bill, and by and large I agree with all of those recommendations. Sadly, given the sausage-making process that is democracy, we didn’t get a bill that was nearly so neat and clean.
I’ve posted before what is wrong with our nation’s financial sector. The financial reform bill takes a few baby steps towards correcting some of the problems, but the vast power of the sector prevented the serious reforms that are necessary. This is, of course, to be expected: how often do those with power and money voluntarily give them up? The question, then, is whether the reforms that did get passed are enough to prevent another catastrophe. I’m not sure. I’m mildly pessimistic.
One thing I’m definitely not unsure about is the catastrophe that has been HAMP. There is really no excuse for a program that was sold to people as a way to help them keep their homes, but turned out to be a way to screw them over. The fact that there haven’t been mass firings and apologies over this travesty shows a real lack of awareness from the Obama administration. It’s really despicable.