From The Washington Post:
Dodd-Frank’s Achilles’ heel
Four years after Dodd-Frank became law, the question being asked is whether the country is safe from another financial crisis. It’s the wrong question. It presumes that major financial crises are routine events. They’re not. What happened in 2008-2009 was the first in the United States since World War II. This sort of calamity requires much stupidity, incompetence and bad luck. With or without the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, the next one might be many years or decades away. The right question is: When a crisis occurs — as it probably will — does Dodd-Frank better prepare us to handle it?
Unfortunately, no. It may even make us more vulnerable. To see why, you need to understand Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act and its role in the last crisis. It’s the sleeper issue in judging Dodd-Frank.
Much more at the site and some excellent comments. It's smoke and mirrors all the way down. Our appearance of careful management is merely a careful management of appearances.
Just as a heads up, Robert J. Samuelson has been writing on economic issues since 1977. He is not related to Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Samuelson.
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