Tighten controls on big banks

It’s too early to consider a President Elizabeth Warren, but it would be good if the freshman U.S. senator from Massachusetts and scourge of the financial industry could set the Obama administration’s priorities for a few months.

Maybe then Americans would start to see action on two big gaps in the president’s record. No. 1 is the failure to vigorously prosecute the villains behind the financial crisis that blew up the U.S. housing market and vaporized many Americans’ home equity, savings and jobs. No. 2 is the failure to put in place the regulations and oversight needed to keep it from happening again.

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“Despite the progress we’ve made since 2008, the biggest banks continue to threaten the economy,” Warren said in a statement announcing the new bill. “The four biggest banks are now 30 percent larger than they were just five years ago, and they have continued to engage in dangerous, high-risk practices that could once again put our economy at risk.”

That risk needs the tough approach to oversight that Warren is not afraid to advocate.