Obama has won me over completely with the economic speech he gave today.

[Zynx]

In addition to all of the regulations he proposed, he also advocated something I have wanted for years, if I may borrow:

"Sixth, we need a process that identifies systemic risks to the financial system. Too often, we deal with threats to the financial system that weren’t anticipated by regulators. That’s why we should create a financial market oversight commission, which would meet regularly and provide advice to the President, Congress, and regulators on the state of our financial markets and the risks that face them. These expert views could help anticipate risks before they erupt into a crisis."

The financial markets, particularly the public and private credit markets, are not some abstraction we can just ignore. They have real and tangible effects on the real economy and as such we need to maintain a vigilant watch over them to correct imbalances before they become unmanagable. This is one of the first times I've ever heard a politician propose a system of ongoing oversight of the markets. If people think that the SEC is sufficient, they don't understand how the system works. There is much more to worry about than just illegal activity.

I know some focus more on the banking regulations and oversight of those who borrow from the government, but this particular item is what really caught my eye. The government right now is ill-suited to properly administer order in the financial markets, which I have previously said are critical to this country's economy. This sort of reform goes a long way to bringing government up to speed.

This marks the first time in a while I have been genuinely impressed by something a politician has said about economic regulation and correcting economic imbalances. This is so much better than all of those rants from Lou Dobbs and countless politicians about outsourcing and foreign trade that are not the root problems facing our economy today, but make for easy targets for an angry public.