In a predictable scramble to capitalize on the 2008 U.S. financial crisis, the Democratic Congress and the President acted swiftly in accordance with their creed not to let any dark moment in history go to waste, and sold the American public on the notion that their version of the legislation would fix the cause of the financial collapse.
Seeking political points for bashing their own political donors on Wall Street, and without consideration for the adverse impact that mandating 400 yet-to-be-written regulations would have on Main Street, former Senator Chris Dodd, Rep. Barney Frank, and President Obama preyed on the opportunity that would allow them to historically expand financial regulations with nominal political risk. They blamed the financial crisis on private-sector misconduct and insufficient regulation, and pursued an avalanche of new, incomprehensible, punitive regulations on one of our largest, most dynamic, and most complicated American industries.
The bill, commonly known as “Dodd-Frank” – or as it should be called “The Jobs and Housing Destruction Act” – represents the regulatory equivalent of blaming your child for eating too much candy. Did Wall Street exploit a deeply flawed regulatory system? Absolutely. Should the practice of leveraging of toxic assets be addressed? Absolutely. But Dodd-Frank accomplishes neither goal and should be viewed as a hollow promise to the American people that a sequel to the implosion of our financial system will never happen again. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I was the first to introduce the bill’s repeal because of the paralyzing effect the bill will have on the U.S. economy.