Summertime Blues

By Lisa Valentine

August is typically a slow time of the year for big news on the regulatory and compliance front as legislators, lobbyists, and everyone else takes vacation time. Expect lots of activity in September as the Obama administration strives to deliver financial reform by the end of the year.

In the meantime, the administration is taking some time to pat itself on the back for its work so far. Hopefully everyone will return from their summer repose with clear heads and a bit less urgency. Of course, clear-headed thinking is always welcomed and although a sense of urgency was required during the most tumultuous and downright scary times of the past 12 months, its now time for legislators and the like to more calmly assess the current environment and suggest changes that are more than a knee-jerk reaction to events.

The danger, of course, is that the current more upbeat economic news and the stock market rally will lull both elected officials as well as the general citizenry into a sense that we can go back to business as usual. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the U.S. government will act swiftly yet prudently and that the focus will remain on the economy and won’t be wholly diverted to our other crisis and Obama priority—healthcare.

When asked what is most important, money or health, most individuals would select health. Rightfully so, but let’s not lose the focus on the economy.