RJ and Makay

Almost one year after the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed, the House of Representatives is now working to delay its implementation to make sure regulators apply serious cost-benefit analysis to proposed regulation.

Earlier this month, the U.S. House Agricultural Committee advanced legislation to delay implementation of new rules that would govern derivatives markets.  The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were given a July 21, 2011 deadline to write many of the new rules.  Both agencies have said they will likely miss the deadline.

The federal government's Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) drew nine main conclusions in its recent "Financial Crisis Inquiry Report." Perhaps the most compelling one: the financial crisis was avoidable.

The FCIC pulls no punches on this point. "The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand, and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public," its report says. "[A] crisis of this magnitude need not have occurred."

It was an arduous process, but the federal government's Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has completed and released "The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report." Click here to read to the full report.

The nearly 600-page report, initially scheduled for release more than a month ago but delayed because of disagreement among Commission members, names a range of reasons for the financial crisis. Among others, these include recklessness and greed on Wall Street and failures of policymakers and regulators in Washington.