> All it does is make life much harder for smaller banks. I don't think that's all it does. That's certainly one polarized way to look at it though. I think t

> All it does is make life much harder for smaller banks. I don't think that's all it does. That's certainly one polarized way to look at it though. I think the idea is that speculative lending is a race to the bottom that hurts everyone in the long run (banks and consumers), but it's profitable in the short-term. Instead of another boom/bust and repeating 2008, we try to have banks lend responsibly. That does potentially slow economic growth although some would argue it would go to realistic rather than artificial levels. Wether the restrictions on the banks outweigh the protection for consumers is typically the debate.