What you need to know to navigate today's most critical debates.

Obama signs financial overhaul into law (WaPo)
Two years after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Democrats have set new rules of the road for Wall Street.

Fannie Subpoenas to Show $30 Billion Bad Mortgages, Rosner Says (Bloomberg)
ND20 contributor Josh Rosner reveals that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator may identify as much as $30 billion of debt included in mortgage bonds that the companies can force sellers to repurchase.

Wall Street Reform: 5 Key Fights After the Bill is Signed (HuffPo)
AlterNet's Zach Carter argues that Congress still has to break up the banks, craft a financial transactions tax, address foreclosures, crack down on fraud, and end derivatives subsidies. At the current legislative pace, that should take us up to 2050.

After Two Months, Senate Passes Unemployment Benefits Extension (Washington Independent)
Senate Republicans used every procedural trick in the book to delay the final vote, but in the end, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins joined with 58 Democrats to pass the extension.

Bernanke to Congress: The Economy Needs You to Keep Spending (HuffPo)
Testifying before the Banking Committee on Wednesday, Ben Bernanke insisted that Congress should hold off on austerity until private spending improves.

No We Can't (The Money Illusion)
Bernanke says the Fed's response to the recession has been aggressive, but Scott Sumner isn't seeing the "Rooseveltian Resolve."

Bailout watchdogs slam Obama housing programs (Reuters)
Elizabeth Warren criticized HAMP as too small and too slow, while Neil Barofsky said that principal reduction should be a mandatory part of the program.

We're in a One-and-a-Half Dip Recession (HuffPo)
Robert Reich argues that recent economic setbacks should convince everyone in Washington to get serious about preventing another recession, but instead we're seeing more of the same.

Ratings Agencies: Don't Use Our Ratings (NPR)
Provisions in the new FinReg law are designed to make ratings agencies take responsibility for their ratings, but the agencies want no part of it.

The Chronic Jobless (MoJo)
Kevin Drum suggests that Republicans are using "chronic jobless" as a euphemism for "lazy bums who don't deserve our help."

Deflation: 1931 vs. Today (NYTimes)
Compared to the four-year price drop that occurred during the Great Depression, our most recent bouts of deflation have been brief and manageable -- so far.

Kick the Old and the Disabled to Show We're Serious About Deficits? (HuffPo)
Social Security has gone from being the "third rail" of American politics to being Washington's favorite punching bag. Robert Borosage says it's time to fight back.

Overcome by Heat and Inertia (NYTimes)
2010 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record, and every year in the last decade has made the top ten, but Congress seems content to kick back and watch the mercury rise.

What 7 Republicans Could Do (NYTimes)
Thomas Friedman notes that after this year, it could be a long time before Democrats have another opportunity to pass meaningful climate change legislation. And all it would take is a few Republicans willing to follow their own principles.

Cynicism and Intellectual Dishonesty (Think Progress)
Ohio Republican George Voinovich says taking up climate change now is cynical political posturing, because Congress won't have time to do anything about it before the midterms. Not with Voinovich and the rest of the GOP filibustering it, anyway.

Barney Frank Reformed Wall Street. Next Up, the Pentagon? (The Nation)
President Obama praised Barney Frank as one of the architects of FinReg, but if he wants to pivot to deficit reduction, he should heed the recommendations of the Sustainable Defense Task Force that Frank helped to create.

The Dreaded P-Word? (NYTimes)
Some call themselves liberals, others call themselves progressives, and no one (including conservatives) can agree on exactly what either word means.

What you need to know to navigate today's most critical debates.

Why financial reform might not work as intended (CS Monitor)
Critics including Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Tom Ferguson worry that giving regulators so much discretion leaves the door open for another lobbying bonanza.

Elizabeth Warren Could Head CFPB Without Senate Confirmation (HuffPo)
Certain provisions in FinReg are vague enough to allow Warren to take the reins at the new agency long before any Senate hearings. Just one little problem: She'd need Tim Geithner's help.

Get America Back to Work! (Daily Beast)
Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow and Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz has joined fifteen other economists and historians in a petition demanding government action on unemployment.

More Doubt on Warren Nomination (MoJo)
Chris Dodd is skeptical about Elizabeth Warren's ability to make it through a Senate confirmation. Luckily...

Why the financial reform bill won't prevent another crisis (CNNMoney)
ND20 contributor William Black says the new law encourages accounting scams and fails to eliminate the perverse incentives that drove the last crisis.

Senate Set to End Stalemate and Extend Jobless Aid (NYTimes)
Democrats should finally have the votes they need to pass an extension of unemployment benefits once Robert Byrd's replacement is sworn in today, but the debate is far from over.

In Unemployment Benefits Extension, a Logistical Headache for States (Washington Independent)
Congress's dithering has left state governments struggling to figure out how they will disperse the reinstated benefits to everyone who depends on them.

Misunderstanding Modern Monetary Theory (Credit Writedowns)
Edward Harrison wades into the Krugman/Galbraith debate and concludes that Krugman's characterization of MMT is off-base and unfair.

It is far too soon to end expansion (FT)
Brad DeLong argues that the financial markets will speak loud and clear when they begin to lose confidence in Treasuries, but until then, we need expansionary monetary, fiscal, and banking policy to lift us out of our economic slump.

Wall Street "Justice": AIG Evidence Raises the Question, "Where Are the Indictments?" (HuffPo)
Firms like AIG and Goldman Sachs have agreed to pay fines for their shady business practices, but none of the people responsible have gone to jail. Isn't it about time to break out the handcuffs?

Is Another Economics Possible? (NYTimes)
Nancy Folbre suggests that conventional economic theory based on selfish individual actors could eventually give way to an economics of cooperation and altruism.

The Big Green Buy (The Nation)
As part of The Nation's special issue on green energy, Christian Parenti writes that the most effective way for the government to boost the renewable energy industry is to become its biggest customer.

Congress shouldn't overreact to the unknowns of the oil spill (WaPo)
Congress has a variety of options for regulating oil exploration, but doing something for the sake of doing something isn't the same as doing what's necessary.

BP's Scheme to Swindle the 'Small People' (Truthout)
Shameless as ever, BP is now hoping to subtract the wages it's paying clean-up workers from the cost of claims against the company.  Maybe Gulf residents should be paying BP for the privilege of having its oil spilled in their water.

The Next Financial Crisis (The Stamp Bubble?) (NYTimes)
Is there any investment scheme so ridiculous that no one on Wall Street would seriously consider it?