QWANZ

A few months ago, I asked Simon Johnson, the former International Monetary Fund economist, now a prominent critic of the banking industry, what he thought the banks owed the country after all the government bailouts....   >>>

A few months ago, I asked Simon Johnson, the former International Monetary Fund economist, now a prominent critic of the banking industry, what he thought the banks owed the country after all the government bailouts.



“They can’t pay what they owe!” he began angrily. Then he paused, collected his thoughts and started over: “Tim Geithner saved them on terms extremely favorable to the banks. They should support all of his proposed reforms.”.............

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There are those who believe that Mr. Frank’s changes have essentially gutted the bill. John Taylor, the chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, told me that he now opposed the bill because it had been so watered down.



But most others still think it is a strong bill. Michael Calhoun, the president of the Center for Responsible Lending, called it “a reasonably strong bill,” despite the changes. And although I was worried at first when I saw provisions like plain vanilla and the reasonableness standard falling by the wayside, I’m now convinced that the new agency, as currently conceived, can still do a lot of good. It will have the authority to outlaw unfair products, and to force financial institutions treat their customers like, well, customers — and not lambs to be slaughtered.



Who could possibly be against that? Oh, right. The bankers are against it. And just a few days ago, The Wall Street Journal editorial page, that knee-jerk defender of corporate interests, came out against it as well.



That clinches it for me. The sooner we can pass the thing, the better.