EDITOR’S NOTE – An occasional look at how Washington works – or doesn’t.
JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – What to do about the size of too-big-to-fail banks? Order a study. How to hold stockbrokers accountable for their dealings with clients? Another study. How to ensure the reliability of credit rating agencies? Study that, too.
Time after time as Congress wrestled with contentious decisions on how to re-regulate the nation’s financial industry, it opted for what often is the classic Washington punt: further study. In all, the 2,300-page overhaul of financial regulations requires more than 60 such studies, on everything from examining the presence of shoddy Chinese drywall in foreclosed houses to judging the financial literacy of U.S. consumers.