Iraq and finances

This week, we look at media comment on the new US financial regulation bill, as well as on the August withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Fitting the bill President Obama signed the most ambitious financial-regulation law since the 1930s this week: the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Acts. Obama says it will protect consumers and will ''rein in the abuse and excess'' on Wall Street that pushed the US economy to the brink of collapse. The law falls short of expectations, however, writes the Financial Times.

The Dodd-Frank law expands the powers and responsibilities of multiple agencies, but says little about what the new rules will require of financial institutions: so many pages, so little content. In many instances, Congress has told the regulators to balance conflicting objectives but given little guidance about how trade-offs – for instance, between financial safety and availability of credit – should be struck.

Time to go After seven years of being in Iraq, US combat forces will leave by the end of August. It’s time for Iraqis to take more responsibility for running their country, but there is a lot to do, writes The New York Times.

Iraqi politicians also have yet to settle some of the most difficult, and potentially combustible, political issues. The government has to come up with a better plan for protecting, and employing, former Sunni insurgents whose decision to switch sides helped quell the violence. ... The Parliament still has not agreed on laws for negotiating oil contracts and for sharing oil revenues. Competing Kurdish and Arab claims to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk must be settled. ...