Clear Rules of the Road

President Obama has outlined seven key principles for the future regulation of capital markets. They are remarkably abstract and aloft. Everybody would agree, for instance, that there must be stricter oversight of financial institutions - but what institutions, and who should exercise supervisions? Nobody doubts that markets need to be strengthened - but how? And what does he mean by "actual data on how actual people make financial decisions"? In a statement, the President has underlined that financial markets need "clear rules of the road". But so far, he has not given any indication of what their content might be.