A feature in the latest Money magazine reminds us that it?s hard to tell whether the recent legislation billed as ?financial reform? will reform anything. Why?
Now the real work begins. Government officials are starting to staff a brand-new half-a-billion-dollar federal agency. Regulators are gearing up to conduct 67 studies and write 243 new rules. Wall Street lobbyists and consumer advocates are lining up to influence those watchdogs as the law is put into practice. And financial services companies are adjusting to ? or looking to working around ? the new rules.
Who knows what kind of mischief this process will generate? Of course, this isn?t the first red flag raised in connection with the idea of Washington ?reforming? the financial sector.
