A chance to Prevent Another Wall Street Meltdown: the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Angus King, Maria Cantwell and John McCain have introduced a bill to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, which had been in place from the 1930s — in response to the 1929 Crash — to 1999.  The Glass-Steagall Act established a firewall between commercial and investment banking, for the exact purpose of preventing a repeat of the Crash of 1929.

In 1999, Wall Street ordered its prostitutes in Congress to get rid of all these cumbersome banking regulations that were “no longer necessary.”  Then-Senator Phil Gramm duly spreadeagled himself, gyrated up a storm, and rewarded his big-spending johns by repealing the Glass-Steagall Act.

Nine years later, Wall Street was rewarded with the 2008 global meltdown and a multi-trillion dollar bailout/handout from taxpayers.  Mission Accomplished.

In addition to reinstating the original Glass-Steagall, the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act is updated to prohibit the modern malignancies that led to the 2008 crash.  Derivatives trading, and some of the more slippery hedge fund and private equity activities — all would be off limits to commercial banks.

Elizabeth Warren said:

“Americans want safe banks.  The banks that handle their checking and savings accounts should be rock-solid secure, and they should not be juicing their profits by taking those insured deposits and insuring them in wild financial schemes.”

John McCain said:

“If enacted, the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act would not end Too-Big-to-Fail. But, it would rebuild the wall between commercial and investment banking that was in place for over 60 years, restore confidence in the system, and reduce risk for the American taxpayer.”

With Congress being packed to the rafters with Wall Street’s skankiest prostitutes, one might think the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act hasn’t got a prayer of becoming law.  Elizabeth Warren addressed this concern:

“People said we could never get the consumer protection bureau. But we fought for it, and now we have an agency protecting consumers from credit card and mortgage scams.”

And here’s how YOU can help.  Please sign this petition urging Congress to pass Elizabeth Warren’s Glass-Steagall Bill.