If there is a common thread tying together the vast jungle of complex banking regulations that emerged from the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial market reform legislation, it is that large and small banks complain about the costs and inefficiencies forced on them by compliance requirements, and that populist-minded politicians complain that the requirements and limitations placed on banks – especially big banks – are not nearly strong enough. As evidence supporting their contention that stiffer regulation is needed, they point to the fact that the big banks have been profitable and recently very profitable, a clear sign that the government does not have enough control over them. It should be noted that there is a long history of an ad...

TAGS – Equities, North America, Macroeconomics