Sycamore Taxpayer

Steve Wilson (chief executive of LCBN National Bank) gives his perspective as chairman of the American Bankers Association. Excerpts
  
   The issue that has dominated his term: the Dodd-Frank Act, which overhauled the U.S. financial system. Wilson’s concerns: The sheer volume  of new rules still being written and implemented threaten to overwhelm Main Street banks, which have a median staff of just 37 employees.
   “The administration and Washington used banks as the fall guy for the Great Recession,” Wilson says. “This is more regulation on the regulated sector that didn’t cause this problem.”
   Wilson notes that the housing crisis began when Wall Street investors bought, bundled and sold subprime loans created by unregulated non bank mortgage originators. The effect of the mountain of Dodd-Frank rules, however, could force the nation’s more than 7,500 banks to hire more compliance staff and make capital requirements at the expense of lending, he says.
   Wilson recalls a conversation with a Fed official during a function in Montana, who expressed bewilderment over bankers’ concerns over Dodd-Frank.
   “I said, “Sir, with great respect, you don’t get it,’ “ Wilson says. He notes the sheer paper required to print the regulation: The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created the central banking system, was 31 pages. The Glass-Steagall Act, which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and implemented other reforms, was 52 pages. Dodd-Frank is 2,319 pages long – and eventually could be thousands more, Wilson said.
    Source: Defending recession’s ‘fall guys’ LCNB chief worries about Dodd-Frank Act’s demands  By Alexander Coolidge acoolidge@enquirer.com  The Enquirer 10/23/11 G1

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August 5,2011:
economy is slowing
accelerating declines in home prices 
rising home foreclosures 
increasing weakness in the banking sector
high unemployment continues
fed moving to reduce the buying power of the dollar 
double-dip recession is possibly beginning