Financial Reform: Unwritten Rules for an Empty Road

When he signed the Dodd-Frank finance reform bill, President Obama said it would protect consumers from the reckless behavior of banks that caused the Great Recession and then got bailed out with taxpayer money. Less than a year after calling the legislation a "key pillar" of economic recovery, he hardly mentions it any more. He's meeting with Wall Street leaders he once called "fat cats," presumably looking for campaign contributions. Republicans, and some Democrats, are delaying the new rules to give teeth to reform. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will open for business on July 21, but Obama still has not appointed a leader. Is the economy still vulnerable to risky practices by banks that are "too big to fail?" What's the future of consumer protection?