Forum Post: Reinstate Glass-Steagall!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 7, 2011, 1:39 a.m. EST by Solono
(5)
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The title says it all. All this bickering back and forth doesn't help and only enables the powers that be to paint this movement with the broad brush of "liberal-hippy-dippy-commie nonsense." All the personal side issues need to be put aside and the message needs to be focused and stay on point. That starts with reinstating Glass-Steagall and continues with the re-development of our infrastructure. The truth is not much else can happen until this is accomplished so everything else is secondary. Here's a copy-paste refresher:
1.CONGRESS PASS HR 1489 ("RETURN TO PRUDENT BANKING ACT"). THIS REINSTATES MANY PROVISIONS OF THE GLASS-STEAGALL ACT. Wiki entry summary: The repeal of provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999 effectively removed the separation that previously existed between investment banking which issued securities and commercial banks which accepted deposits. The deregulation also removed conflict of interest prohibitions between investment bankers serving as officers of commercial banks. Most economists believe this repeal directly contributed to the severity of the Financial crisis of 20072011 by allowing Wall Street investment banking firms to gamble with their depositors' money that was held in commercial banks owned or created by the investment firms. Here's detail on repeal in 1999 and how it happened: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlassSteagall_Act#Repeal."
Finally...someone posts a concrete, sensible objective. Lose the emotions and get down to the facts or lose the war.
This has been my qualm with banks for a long time. THIS needs to be addressed by the powers that be. The fact that banks can play with OUR money is THE biggest issue in our economy and the source of our many problems.
Sorry but the genie is out of the bottle. Fact is he was out of the bottle before Glass-Steagall. Reinstating Glass-Steagall would be like tying to put a band-aid on severed leg. Too little too late, and it really doesn't address the root problem of the people who have the power to create smoke and mirrors, like the credit default swaps that no one saw coming.
That's the thing, though. What can you really do to them? Everything that the "people who have the power" did was perfectly legal because Glass-Steagall was repealed. If they did the things they did with Glass-Steagall in place, they'd all presumably be standing before a judge or behind bars right now.
I feel your pain. It's as if these people have a genetic disposition, to dominate. I think it's going to have to take something out of the ordinary to deal with this situation. Not sure what, but stranger things have happened.
It's a good idea. Thanks for the info, I was not even aware of this. How could I be when the law books are a zillion volumes of information?