chairman Garrett set the tone of the hearing by referring to the second year anniversary of the enactment of Dodd/Frank and observing the economy is still suffering from the economic downturn. The Chairman suggested the new law was actually hindering , not improving, the pace of the recovery. The hearing was called to focus on four current regulatory issues under consideration by the regulators; derivative regulation, the Volcker Rule, risk retention and single counter-party credit limits.

Ranking Member Lynch began his opening statement by saying the opponents of financial reform were planting the seeds of the next financial crisis by delaying and weakening the federal reform effort. He pointed to the 19.2 trillion dollars in household wealth and cited the Better Markets testimony that stated the cost could actually be much greater.

Except for Better Markets’ President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, the witnesses represented the market industry but Dennis presented the strong argument that the economy was lagging, not because of the new financial reform but, because Wall Street had led the way into one of the deepest recessions in our history.