How Dodd-Frank is Like the Iraq War

On 9/11 I watched people die. And I wanted retribution. Not my finest hour.

I would be lying to tell you I paid close attention to the decisions leading up to the Iraq War. Although I didn't pay much attention, I do know it was a popular decision. It had overwhelming support in Congress and among the people. For me, my rage still burned. Someone, somehow had wronged me and I wanted justice. Given the popular support for the war, I was far from alone in my feelings.

Dodd-Frank appeals to a similar sentiment. Somehow, someone almost ruined the country, or almost put us into a Second Great Depression. It was subprime lending, it was evil bankers, it was derivatives, it was deregulation, it was Greenspan, it was capitalism, it was Fannie, it was Freddie, it was the CRA.  It's similar to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. We just KNEW they were there. So to exact revenge we passed Dodd-Frank and continue to seek out the criminals who brought about our suffering.

But like our search for WMD failed, so too will our search for WMD that almost blew up our country. Our rage makes us blind to what happened, which means it will be mostly sheer dumb luck we come up with a right solution.