Bethany McLean of Slate's right on

I believe that government regulations like those that the controversial new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may hand down are a poor substitute for bankers choosing on their own to behave ethically and responsibly, and for consumers digging into the details on products that sound too good to be true. But let's get serious. Bankers aren't going to change their behavior, and consumers aren't all of a sudden going to become educated and savvy. (Especially in the face of a deluge of advertising, like that we saw at the height of the mortgage boom, which urged consumers to cash out the equity in their homes.) Unfortunately, regulation is the only tool left.


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