Ex-US Treasury Secretaries Back Volcker Rule

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Five former Treasury secretaries urged Congress Sunday to bar banks that receive federal support from engaging in speculative activity unrelated to basic bank services.

"The principle can be simply stated," the five said in a letter to The Wall Street Journal. "Banks benefiting from public support by means of access to the Federal Reserve and FDIC insurance should not engage in essentially speculative activity unrelated to essential bank services."

The Treasury secretaries said, however, that hedge funds, private-equity firms and other organizations engaged in speculative trading should be "free to compete and innovate" but should not expect taxpayers to back up their endeavors.

"They should, like other private businesses, ... be free to fail without explicit or implicit taxpayer support," said the former secretaries for both Republican and Democratic presidents.

The appeal comes as Senate lawmakers are pressing ahead with efforts to produce a financial regulatory reform bill that would curb some of the practices that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

Read more here:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/35516716

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This is a part of the reform that I could get behind. 

If you're going to play with our money, you play by our rules. 

If you don't you're on your own just like the dry cleaner or grocery store down the street.