By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

2010 is an election year. Obama’s financial sector reforms will concentrate upon areas where he can win votes. These reforms will come at us piecemeal, but here’s a possible package:
- Credit Cards
- Mortgages
- Executive Pay
- …and Over-the-Counter (OTC) Derivatives

…the “Brooksley Born ultimatum” of the late 90s...see this related piece.

Byron Wein, the Vice-Chairman of Blackstone Advisory Services LLC, hinted at this “package” in an interview on Charlie Rose, October 16, 2009…see and type Byron Wein in the search box...

There may be a few more areas, but these four appear to all be part of the discussion lately. All four will garner votes. But will all four areas be enough? Is this a coordinated political vote-gathering strategy for the Democrats?

Have the Republicans seen this? Do they have a counter-plan?

Citizens deserve all of these reforms…or do they? Will the administration over-regulate and hurt this limping economy again?

Wall Street smells the regulatory winds drifting north from Washington…

Obama plans these reforms to get votes…plain and simple…it’s politics.

Will his package be a scary jack-n-the-box?