We have talked quite a bit this week about the regulatory uncertainty which is hindering investment and growth. But sometimes you need to hear it from the other side. In this FireDogLake post David Dayen extols the virtues of having Elizabeth Warren head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new agency with unchecked powers to regulate Main Street businesses. Let's take a look at this passage, which really drives the uncertainty point home:

Because of the wide discretion in the bill, Warren could shape the agency as she sees fit. Just because there is no requirement for a "plain vanilla" contract on financial products, in readable English for consumers, doesn’t mean the chief regulator couldn’t make a rule mandating one. And that’s just one example.

Just one example indeed. Instead of providing clear rules of the road, the financial regulation bill passed yesterday just creates an even larger regulatory construction zone. So the next time you are sitting in gridlocked traffic while orange cones force the lanes from three, to two, to one, consider yourself a metaphor for the American economy. Then take a moment to wonder if loans are toasters.*

* I promise this will make sense once you click through.