Two on the Senate financial regulatory reform bill from the Wall Street Journal:

The bill does include endless pages of costly regulations, but heavily regulated banks employ entire departments to navigate rules. Yes, the new regs will shave off profits, but the real burden—including that of the infamous new Consumer Financial Protection Agency—will fall on their smaller credit competitors, who didn't cause the crisis and don't have the financial cushion to absorb these costs. (Kim Strassel)

Responding to an amendment offered by Senator Richard Shelby to limit the scope of the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mr. Obama said, "I will not allow amendments like this one written by Wall Street's lobbyists to pass for reform." Mr. Civility was insulting the gentleman from Alabama, but even if delivered in dignified language, the attack was false. The proposed bureau would not regulate Wall Street. Under the Democratic plan, securities firms will continue to be overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Goldman Sachs could care less whether Congress creates such a bureaucracy, and Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein has praised the idea. The guts of the Shelby amendment was to prevent the bureau from regulating non financial companies like retailers that extend credit, unless there's a record of violating consumer laws. (Review & Outlook)