The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was endorsed by President Obama as an asset providing the “strongest consumer financial protections in history.” However, almost a year after the Act was introduced, implementation of its broad reforms is slowing
The complexity of the Act is the root of it’s first problem: The bill came in at an overwhelming 2,319 pages, or 300,000 words, about half the length of the entire Christian Bible. By comparison, other paradigm-shifting financial acts were short-stories; the Federal Reserve Act was 31 pages, Glass-Steagall was 37 pages, and Sarbanes-Oxley was 66 pages long. Even the gargantuan Health Reform Act was shorter than Dodd-Frank. Consequently, even the Federal government can’t fully ascertain the Act.
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For previous coverage of the debt limit fight in Advisor’s Journal, see Storm Clouds over U.S. Debt (CC 11-85).
William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence 