Is Wall Street Reform Too Little, Too Late?

Wall street can no longer hedge funds against itself

The "Volcker Rule" will ensure that banks are no longer allowed to own, invest, or sponsor hedge funds, private equity funds, or proprietary trading operations for their own profit, unrelated to serving their customers." (The White House: 'Wall Street Reform) This means companies like Goldman Sachs can no longer bet against their customers.

Too big to bail

Other things that are changing with this reform is that companies will no longer be bailed out, no matter how big they are. Let them fail if they are mismanaged. I have mixed feelings on this because I can see the trickle effect that would happen if large, big employers were to fail. Towns go out of business, homes become foreclosed, people are forced to move to where there is work. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but it would be the way capitalism should work if left unfettered.

Fees regulated but methods still vague

With the new reform credit card companies and banks are now being regulated more closely for the fees that they charge particularly with overdraft protection, but my husband and I are still livid.

Our bank shows the total money that is deposited and credited to our account yet if checks are deposited they have the right to hold this money in our account. They apparently have the right to hold this money in limbo for an undetermined time. Checks going out clear in a day, yet incoming checks clear in seven days. Why?

Even when the checks are written against the same bank and we know they have cleared, we've still had instances where we thought we had the money in our account because our statement said we had money, but we bounced checks because the outgoing checks were processed before the incoming checks were. I've fought with the tellers on numerous occasions and they have yielded sometimes and refunded those fees and other times they insist there is nothing they can do.

Frankly a simple column on the statement that says, "in transition" would fix this and reduce the frustration involved for all, but then again, the banks might lose this fun money they are earning because we don't have a safety net in that account.

Happy but pessimistic

Honestly, I am happy to see the reform but I can't help but wonder where the next angle is going to be? Invest in Wall Street? I'm thinking it's safer to invest in my mattress.

Sources

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/21/top-10-things-you-may-not-know-about-wall-street-reform-and-consumer-protection-act

http://www.whitehouse.gov/wallstreetreform

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2940758/goldman_sachs_uses_synthetic_instruments.html?cat=3