Finance Space

There is a debate taking place in Washington about whether we will hold Wall Street accountable and protect consumers.

America has endured a financial crisis as dire as any we’ve known in generations.

It nearly dragged our economy into a second Great Depression. It forced taxpayers to foot the bill for irresponsible practices on Wall Street. And it helped lead to the loss of trillions of dollars in family savings and more than 8 million jobs across America.

Yet two years since the height of this financial crisis, the same system of rules and oversight remains in place. And the status quo means our economy — and taxpayers — remain vulnerable to another disaster.

US Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd made a last-minute amendment to a massive financial overhaul bill to resolve a dispute over derivatives.

The Democrat’s measure would postpone any action on the complex financial instruments for two years so it can be studied by a new council of regulators headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Derivatives are blamed for overheated speculation that fueled the global financial collapse of 2008.

Dodd’s move sought to overcome a major outstanding issue on Wall Street reform, as the US Senate set the stage for a final vote as early as this week on the overall financial legislation.

The head of a key banking panel is expected Monday to release a draft bill of sweeping regulatory changes aimed at warding off future collapses in the financial system.

While much of the attention has focused on battles over the creation of a new consumer regulator to ensure consumers get a fair shake with mortgages and credit cards, the final draft is expected to address other areas, including some lawmakers generally agree about.

Senate Banking chief Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Thursday that the “single most important thing we do in this bill” will be creating a new mechanism to prevent firms from becoming so big that their failure would threaten the entire financial system, spurring another universally hated $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.