Roosevelt-Lite

"Making Bankers Mad"

The Obama plan is little more than an attempt to stick some new regulatory fingers into a very leaky financial dam rather than rebuild the dam itself . . . Firms will have to put up a little more capital, and deal with a little more oversight, but once the financial crisis is over, it will, in all likelihood, be back to business as usual.

--Joe Nocera, "Only a Hint of Roosevelt in Financial Overhaul"; The New York Times (6/17/09)

"Back to business as usual" is not a ringing endorsement, if you believe, as I do, that today's economic crisis actually has some culprits (besides Bernie Madoff). So, it's disappointing to see the early reviews on Obama's proposed financial reforms come in "thumbs down."

Nocera saved the best line(s) of his piece for last:

If Mr. Obama hopes to create a regulatory environment that stands for another six decades, he is going to have to do what Roosevelt did once upon a time. He is going to have to make some bankers mad.

For now, it's everyone else who's mad -- or should be.