After a whirlwind of amendments and parliamentary parrying, the Senate has passed it's version of reform of the regulations of the financial sector. Some early reactions:
- Paul Krugman likes what the Senate did. He links to and agrees with Edmund Andrews.
- David Leonhardt sees areas for improvement.
- Simon Johnson is less than thrilled.
- Next step: conference committee to combine the Senate bill with the House version.
There's a lot to like in the Senate bill (including reasonable consumer financial protection and Say on Pay rules) and what emerges from the conference committee is likely to go a long way to reigning in some of the excesses of finance. However, there is a lot that both the House and Senate did not address.
The real next next step cut finance down to size.