In the title of one of his books, author Gore Vidal drolly referred to the USA as the "United States of Amnesia." In seeming affirmation of that observation, the Los Angeles Times began its story Tuesday about a proposed financial reform bill with this statement: "Memories of the financial crisis (are) already fading."

Can that be true? Are Americans already forgetting the greedy, negligent behavior on Wall Street that played so large a role in sending the economy into a near depression and required massive government bailouts to avoid it? Are citizens prepared to go back to business as usual, satisfied that executives at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, etc. have learned their lessons and shall never sin again?

Say it ain't so.

On Monday, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., introduced his 1,336-page bill to overhaul financial regulation. Sen. Dodd went forward with his proposals after months of negotiations with Republicans on the committee failed to produce a bipartisan proposal.

Wall Street power brokers will spare no expense in lobbying Congress to water down any reforms. Aided by the recent Supreme Court decision that concluded all restrictions on corporate campaign spending are unconstitutional, that influence will be greater than ever.

Unless average Americans demand reform, Congress may settle for cosmetic changes rather than a regulatory overhaul of real substance. Sen. Dodd's proposals are substantial and largely on target.

Sen. Dodd's call for a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is already under attack. In response to Republican opposition, the senator altered his proposal for a wholly independent bureau and instead moves it under the wing of the Federal Reserve Board. It remains as a stand-alone in the House version. The new bureau would write and enforce regulations on mortgages, credit cards and other financial products. Many congressional conservatives don't like it.

To limit future taxpayer bailouts, the bill would require large financial firms to underwrite a $50 billion financial rescue fund (the $150 billion fund in the House version is more realistic), which could be used to rescue or liquidate large, failing banks. Unfortunately, the bill doesn't eliminate government rescues, allowing the Treasury to issue loans to provide working capital.

The Dodd bill would for the first time require regulation of derivatives. During the financial crisis, concerns about the ability of financial institutions to make good on obligations tied to these complex financial instruments caused the markets to freeze.

Other changes would focus the regulatory attention of the Fed on the biggest banks, with assets of $50 billion or more. Supervision of smaller banking institutions would be up to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Among the most important proposed changes is creation of an Office of Credit Rating Agencies to monitor credit rating firms, such as Moody's. These firms, often with financial links to the institutions they rated, played a major role in the financial collapse by issuing triple-A ratings to mortgage-backed securities that were in reality backed by millions of bad home loans.

Such a complex bill will certainly change during the legislative process. Some Republicans on the banking committee say they are still willing to work toward a bipartisan bill. Sen. Dodd should provide that opportunity and not rush a bill to the floor. But if Congress bows to corporate power and guts the legislation, the next fiscal crisis may prove worse than the last.