ONCE WE INSURE IT, IT'S OUR MONEY:

Volcker and Derivatives (WSJ, 6/23/10)

As early as today, House and Senate negotiators may agree on a Volcker Rule, limiting the risks big banks can take in trading for their own account, as well as a separate set of rules regulating the derivatives trades banks can do on behalf of clients. America doesn't need both.

A Volcker Rule won't be easy to implement but it makes policy sense: limit the opportunities for banks to speculate with federally insured deposits. Combined with high capital standards, this won't lead to perfect outcomes—we're talking about regulation, after all—but it would once again draw a risk-taking line that was crossed too often in 2008.