Regulators want to start making banking boring again. Today, five different regulatory agencies are expected to adopt the Volcker Rule, which would redraw a line between regular banking and Wall Street gambling. The rule is one of the centerpieces of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, and it is seen as a litmus test for the overall strength of the financial reform law.

Congress hasn't done much this year, but House and Senate negotiators are close to a deal on “fast-tracking” the Trans Pacific Partnership. The TPP is a massive trade agreement among the US and a dozen Pacific nations that poses a major threat to our jobs, our economy, and our national sovereignty.

Yesterday, the world lost a great man. Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela passed away at the age of 95. In addition to being South Africa's first black president, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and human rights icon throughout much of his life. He even spent 27 years locked up as a political prisoner for trying to fight the apartheid in South Africa.

Yesterday, President Obama spoke to a crowd at The ARC arts schoolhouse about the real deficit in our nation – which has nothing to do with our national budget.