How Washington Beat Wall Street

"Goldman Sachs, the biggest money machine in Wall Street history, is a shell of its former self. Morgan Stanley, Goldman's one-time bitter rival in the swashbuckling world of high-risk trading, is transforming into a staid money management firm with a side business underwriting stocks and offering merger advice. Citigroup and Bank of America sold off many of their classic "Wall Street" businesses, including proprietary trading desks and private equity and hedge fund stakes, to comply with the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. Washington's big victory came via widespread public outrage at the financial industry, which paved the way for a strong reform bill. And after President Barack Obama signed Dodd-Frank into law in 2010, the industry made mistake after mistake -- from the interest rate rigging scandal to mortgage-foreclosure "robo-signing" -- making it essentially impossible for the industry's lobbyists to beat back any of the newly imposed regulations." Ben White in Politico.