I'm not entirely thrilled with the Wall Street reform bill, but it's still a pretty big deal considering how dominant the anti-regulation, anti-Big Government voices have been for the last 40-plus years. Much like the subsidies in the healthcare reform bill, I never thought the pendulum would swing back to a point where Congress and the president are passing large-scale domestic legislation containing these sorts of, dare I say, liberal ideas.
This is what seems to be the best part of the bill:
In response to the huge bailouts in 2008, the bill seeks to ensure that troubled companies, no matter how big or complex, can be liquidated at no cost to taxpayers. It would empower regulators to seize failing companies, break them apart and sell off the assets, potentially wiping out shareholders and creditors.
Seems obvious doesn't it? We should've been able to do this all along.
Here's the weird catch in this section of the bill. The Republicans, when they eventually take over, will never allow this to happen. They'll bail out the corporation(s) again despite their anti-bailout screeching. Then they'll blame liberals for the bailouts.
Just like last time.