[Steelfish]

The author goes on to say:

“In the blame game for this financial crisis, George W Bush comes a close second to greedy and unscrupulous Wall Street bankers.
But there are serious flaws in this argument.

Deregulation started long before President Bush came to power, and it was enthusiastically pursued by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Here is just one example:

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 separated the activities of commercial banks, which take deposits, from investment banks, which invest money. It was repealed in 1999.

That relaxation of the rules enabled commercial lenders, like Citigroup, to trade instruments such as mortgage-backed securities and collateralised debt obligations.
‘Far-reaching reform’

Many see the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act as a major, direct cause of the current financial crisis.

But it was signed by a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, and supported by many other Democratic politicians, among them the scourge of Bush deregulation Nancy Pelosi.

What is more, President Bush actually increased the burden of regulation on US companies, enacting in 2002 what he called “the most far-reaching reform of American business practices since the time of Franklin D Roosevelt”, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.”

[Doohickey]

Glass-Seagal was a solution in search of a problem. It was supposed to solve percieved corruption in the banking industry. But, there was no direct evidence that banks that engaged in both commercial and ivestment banking were engaged in any of the activities they were accused of - mainly, of selling investment securities they'd underwritten to unwitting customers of the commerical business.

This was power grab on the part of the FDR administration - break up the big banks. The big diversified banks weren't the problem though. Very few of them failed when the banking system collaped in 1933. Ninety percent of banks that failed were commerical banks that did not engage in investment banking because of the restrictions of unit banking laws.

[lentulusgracchus]

Many see the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act as a major, direct cause of the current financial crisis. But it was signed by a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, and supported by many other Democratic politicians, among them the scourge of Bush deregulation Nancy Pelosi. [Emphasis supplied.]

DING DING DING DING

No more calls, please -- we have a winner. No more calls.

Da Boyz Downtown in Wall Street had their way with administrations and politicians of all colors and stripes. As the immortal Ozzie Myers said, "Money talks and ......"