When Republicans oppose bank regulation, I think they’re often guilty of misplaced laissez-fairism. Banks currently enjoy explicit and implicit federal guarantees. If the federal government is, in effect, insuring banks, the federal government is within its rights to place reasonable restrictions on banks’ risk-taking.

So I’m not surprised to see conservative Sen. David Vitter leading the GOP end of the charge to place stricter reserve requirements on banks. Politico reports: