We have passed an important milestone coming out of the financial crisis, though its watershed status has received surprisingly little notice. That milestone is the first significant test of how regulators (in this case, the SEC) approach individual investor protections in the post-crisis era. Several weeks ago, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro failed to muster the needed votes from the SEC Commissioners to take the next step in increasing the safety of money funds. Note: this was not a final vote to enact new regulations, but simply a vote to put the proposal out for public comment. (!!) But she couldn’t get the votes for even that. More on Business Insider here.
