The Chamber has been in the forefront of working for financial regulatory reform for many years to insure that businesses have access to capital and credit. Simply put, businesses need dynamic financial markets to expand and grow jobs. While the financial markets are every changing, they need the certainty of clear rational rules of the road in order to function properly. Regulatory dead-zones and arbitrage were a part of the problem and we have been willing to work with partners to correct the problems of the past and insure that businesses have access to the financial markets needed for a 21st century economy.

My Blackberry started filling up last night with e-mails last night that President Obama will make an announcement later this morning proposing a new separation between investment and commercial functions for large financial services firms. The United States has had a separation of investment and commercial banking before through Depression-era legislation known as Glass-Steagall.

What this proposal means or how it will impact American capital markets and businesses is going to have to wait for the details. However, we have seen over the past several weeks, proposals to tax banks, tax stock transactions, etc. These proposals have to be viewed through the lens of job creation and economic growth. If they created artificial obstacles to capital inhibiting growth or place our markets at a global competitive disadvantage, then they shouldn’t be pursued. If those proposals put the markets on a firm footing and help business gain access to credit, then they need to be looked at seriously.

While I am sure we will have a running debate on the President’s proposal, one tale about the Glass-Steagall law may be instructive. Glass-Steagall was enacted to limit the power of J.P. Morgan, Jr. and his bank. J.P. Morgan’s response? He sent his son and a partner across the street to start a new firm called Morgan Stanley.