Dodd-Frank turns 5 today — it’s Obama’s most underappreciated achievement

July 21, 2015

On the 5th Anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, Roosevelt Fellow Mike Konczal wrote an explainer in Vox looking at the three core pillars of the law and where additional reforms are needed.


Dodd-Frank fixes the broken consumer finance system by creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It addresses out of control derivative trading by forcing it onto regulated marketplaces. And it fixes “too big to fail” banks by making it less likely big banks will fail and reducing the risk to the entire economy if one did.

As Koncal says:

Five years ago today, Barack Obama signed one of the most important but least understood bills of his presidency: Dodd-Frank

For a deeper understanding of the law read Dodd-Frank Turns 5 Today – It’s Obama’s Most Underappreciated Achievement.