The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that United States regulators are easing capital requirements. The Globe's guest columnist Chris Gay writes that the Federal Reserve temporarily approved a measure on March 19 that would relax capital-adequacy rules tightened after the 2008 financial crisis in an attempt to make Wall Street safer for capitalism. The proposed rules -- put out for a standard 90-day comment period -- would reduce capital needs for the largest banks. These changes would be among the most significant relaxations since the crisis. Some see the move toward lower ratios as a first step in the time-honoured American process of manufacturing financial crises, which goes like this: 1) easy credit, lax regulation and overpriced assets, 2) market crash and recession, 3) government bailouts, 4) a new round of prudential regulations. Closing the circle, once steps 2 to 4 are well down the memory hole, Wall Street has an easier time securing deregulations that loop back around to step 1. The American bank lobby, understandably, applauds last week's proposal. Critics say the new rules would harm the resilience of banks and the U.S. financial system.