President Obama Threatens Veto on Financial Regs for Wrong Reasons
Dave Mason /
So now President Obama is threatening to veto financial reform legislation Democratic leaders in Congress are working to pass if it is not tough enough on derivatives. There is really no disagreement between Obama and Congressional Democrats on the issue, just a bizarre attempt to make non-news.
Obama is in high dudgeon because his advisors claim derivatives caused the 2008 financial crisis. The problem is this claim is false, and the proposals Obama offers would make future crises in the derivatives market more rather than less likely.
There is actually a substantial degree of consensus about how to improve the derivatives market, and market participants themselves, with no help from Washington, have made huge strides in making those improvements in the 18 months since the 2008 financial crisis.