Volcker on the "Volcker Rule"

John Cassidy interviews Paul Volcker about his role in the financial-reform bill and his advocacy of the “Volcker Rule,” which refers to a prohibition of proprietary trading by commercial banks. A watered-down version of the rule made it into the bill; Volcker believes “[w]e could have done better.” “The ban on proprietary trading is still there,” he said. “But I’m sorry we lost the tighter limitations on hedge funds and private equity. I’m a little pained that it doesn’t have the purity I was searching for.” Raghuram Rajan also weighs in on the bill: “”There is a great amount of ambiguity about how the bill will evolve in practice. It has tremendous promise, but also tremendous scope for disappointment.” And you already know what Gary Becker thinks.[%comments]