Washington Won't Stifle Wall Street in '09

Despite lots of talk of the regulatory zeal expected to grip Washington in 2009, the real impact on battered Wall Street is likely to be more muted than it would initially appear.

From money manager Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme to the exotic derivatives blamed for the meltdown in the financial sector, critics of a long era of deregulation have no shortage of examples to bolster their argument that it must come to an end.

But while President-elect Barack Obama recently said those overseeing the financial system have been "asleep at the switch," his choice to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, was hailed as a "tough, but fair" regulator with experience across several agencies. ...