Finally, at least one government is proposing action that begins to measure up to the severity of the crisis and the culpability of the banking and financial system for it. And it's the elephant in the room - no, not Paul Volcker big though he is, but the United States itself. How Volcker succeeded in getting his approach to banking reform through the White House, the US Treasury, the assorted bureaucracies and vested interests we will not know for a long time. For want of any better explanation