On July 15, three Republican senators crossed the aisle to help pass the most sweeping financial-regulation overhaul since the Great Depression. Supporters of the 2,300-page legislation say the new rules will rein in investment risk-taking by big financial firms that otherwise might endanger the economic system again. Trading in complex investments known as derivatives will also get closer scrutiny. But some critics say that the law's effectiveness depends on the same federal regulators who missed the signs of the last impending crisis. Other critics say the new law is nowhere nearly as tough as it needed to be. They point out, for example, that the law doesn't prevent banks from growing to enormous size, which many analysts say makes financial institutions unmanageable and leads to conflicts of interest.

Marcia Clemmitt is a veteran social-policy reporter who joined CQ Researcher after serving as editor in chief of Medicine and Health, a Washington-based industry newsletter, and staff writer for The Scientist. She has also been a high school math and physics teacher. She holds a bachelor's degree in arts and sciences from St. Johns College, Annapolis, and a masters degree in English from Georgetown University.