If the administration gets its way, the Fed will have greatly expanded authority to decide which institutions it would regulate. This week, even the plan's authors seemed unsure which institutions would come under greater scrutiny and oversight, with Geithner claiming the plan wouldn't regulate hedge funds and Summers saying it was too early to tell. But the administration's "blueprint" for reform lays out broad criteria that include an institution's size, leverage, and reliance on short-term funding; its role as a source of liquidity for the financial system; the impact a potential collapse might have on the financial system; and whether the institution was a source of credit to homeowners, businesses, and governments.
The definitions provided by the administration are so broad they could include not just institutions like insurance giant American International Group, the investment firm Goldman Sachs, and other firms whose near collapse last year precipitated the financial crisis but virtually any large institution whose business model includes providing financing to just about anyone.
The public is growing increasingly skeptical, however, whether the Obama administration's far-reaching intrusion into the private sector is a good idea. The latest Wall Street Journal poll shows nearly 70 percent of Americans have reservations about the government's recent interventions in the economy, and President Obama's approval ratings have fallen. Overall, he's slipped from a 61 percent approval rating in April to a 56 percent rating now, and a bare majority of Americans, 51 percent, now approve of his handling of the economy.
Poll numbers like these may explain why the president's plan has already drawn fire from Democrats like Dodd as well as Republicans. Congress may yet put the brakes on the Obama plan. If not, the Federal Reserve's growing tentacles could end up strangling the U.S. economy in the name of protecting it.