Remember the regulations put in place after the 2008-2009 crash, to prevent us from having another? Trump says they gotta go.

What’s going on?

Trump is set to release executive orders today which undermine a couple key components of the Dodd-Frank Act. Dodd-Frank was put in place after the global financial collapse that began in late 2008. It is designed to prevent banks from engaging in the sorts of risky behavior that led to the crash, and to make them prove they are solvent on a regular basis.

Trump is out to relax these measures, no doubt as a favor to the banking industry.

Why is it important?

Well, unless you were born in the past few years, you probably remember what a nightmare the global financial crisis was. A lot of people still haven’t recovered from it, to say nothing of the banks and businesses that failed because of it. There aren’t a lot of other events in the past decade that inflicted so much pain on such a large scale.

What can I do?

At a systemic level: probably not much. But do what you can to protect yourself. If you have financial assets, keep them as safe as you can. Is it too soon to hoard food and water and build bunkers? You tell me.