The age of lax regulation is so over.  The long arm of the federal government is back in business.  It isn’t just the new Democratic administration—everything from leaded toys to salmonella peanuts to Bernard Madoff and the meltdown-and-bailout itself has renewed the government’s appetite for big-time oversight.

The financial industry is first in line for the Washington woodshed.  Congress is picking out one helluva hickory switch, firming up guidelines for making loans and increasing the capital requirements to back those loans up.  Even the derivatives market, long under the radar, is about to get a regulatory colonoscopy.

But don’t think for a minute that it will stop with the financials.  Manufacturing, transportation, energy, communications, retail—everybody is looking at a year of being looked at very, very closely.

So how best to respond to all this?  By taking advantage of the golden opportunity it presents. (more…)