In the aftermath of the Great Recession, politicians felt a strong “never again” feeling among voters, and they vowed to prevent the next global financial crisis.  Then, they passed the “Dodd-Frank” bill, which required more capital – real capital – in banks.  This was good and really made both our banks and our economy safer.  Unfortunately, it also contained over a thousand pages of regulations.  The onerous cost of complying with so many conflicting regulations fell more heavily upon the smaller banks.  Many bank economists believe these regulations have kept lending lower than normal, which  explains the slower than normal recovery from the Great Recession.  President Trump agrees with them, and he is right!

Now, Senator Sanders has agreed that some regulatory relief is appropriate but also wants to deal with the increased economic vulnerability of the “big” banks getting bigger and controlling more and more of our economy.  We seem to have forgotten the global financial crisis started with big banks.  Remember Lehman?  Giant JPMorgan says their “fortress balance sheet” makes America safer.  I don’t think so!  We don’t need to depend any single corporate balance sheet when we have the infinitely expandable balance sheet of the Federal Reserve Bank.  Senator Sanders is also right.

Is there room here for a c-o-m-p-r-o-m-i-s-e ??  Opps, I apologize for that profanity . . .