Economy

Ryan's Budget Rolls Back Wall Street Reform

Yes, the Paul Ryan budget repeals the president's Wall Street Reform law (aka. Dodd-Frank) which would subsequently resurrect too-big-to-fail.

On financial regulation, Paul Ryan’s 2013 budget basically cuts-and-pastes its recommendations from last year: it wants to repeal parts of Dodd-Frank that give new power to federal regulators to break up big banks, arguing that the regulations actually make bailouts more likely, not less so. Ryan isn’t proposing an alternative, however, so his plan to repeal the government’s new “resolution authority” would bring us back to the pre-Dodd Frank era — which was also, of course, the era in which bank bailouts proved necessary.

Under Wall Street reform, financial institutions that are deemed “systemically significant” are subject to a host of new regulations, including a new rule that requires them to submit “living wills” that explain what would happen if the firm went belly up. They’re required to submit such plans to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which has new authority to help liquidate troubled firms so as to avoid systemic catastrophe and prompt taxpayer bailouts.

So under Paul Ryan's plan, there will likely be more bailouts of crooked Wall Street corporations and financial institutions. Good job, Republicans.