On the Occasion of Its First Anniversary - Dodd-Frank by the Numbers
Ever since the earliest whispers of Dodd-Frank, it’s been all about the numbers. From the $648 billion the Congressional Budget Office estimates the September 2008 economic collapse cost the United States, to the 1,010.14 points the Dow swung in a matter of minutes during the infamous May 6, 2010 Flash Crash, the financial crisis of the late 2000s has given the global financial markets more numbers to contend with than anyone could be expected to digest. With the passage of Dodd-Frank, the federal government’s legislative reaction to the crisis, the U.S. Congress has given us a few more:
- $1,000,000,000,000+ the broader economic costs of Dodd-Frank, according to some estimates.
- $19,000,000,000 the size of the bank tax that Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) successfully removed during the conference process
- $2,900,000,000 the cost of Dodd-Frank implementation over the next 5 years
- $1,800,000,000 the implementation cost for commodities traders
- 383,013 words in Dodd-Frank
- 100,000 non-banking firms that could be regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
- 2,600 new positions at regulatory agencies
- 2,319 pages in the final bill (vs. 2,409 for health care reform).
- 533 new regulations
- 243 rules created by Dodd-Frank (Sarbanes-Oxley created 16)
- 94 reports
- 88 hearings held on Dodd-Frank during the Act’s passage and first year of implementation
- 67 studies required by Dodd-Frank (Sarbanes-Oxley required 6)
- 44 Republican Senators who have vowed to block any candidate for director of the CFPB
- 13 new federal government agencies created by Dodd-Frank
As Dodd-Frank rolls into its second year, much remains to be seen, but what is clear is that the numbers will continue to increase. The implementation costs will continue to rise, the agencies will hand down more and more regulations, and Members of Congress will introduce even more bills to scale back the Act. At this rate Dodd-Frank itself may be getting too big to fail.
