Post by Logan on Jan 19, 2016 22:10:59 GMT -6
Democrats are wasting their time obsessing over this Depression-era law
This debate over Glass-Steagall needs to die already.
You’re forgiven if you have no idea what I’m talking about. Few Americans have reason to know or care a lot about the Glass-Steagall Act, an arcane, Depression-era law that restricted the kinds of activities banks could engage in.
The law was partly repealed in 1999, but for some reason the Democratic presidential candidates have become obsessed with it — and, specifically, with bringing it back.
They’ve brought it up at every debate and expounded on it on the trail. It’s become the left’s litmus test for whether a politician is “tough” on Wall Street. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Martin O’Malley advocate reviving Glass-Steagall, ergo they’re populist heroes; Hillary Clinton does not, ergo she’s in the pocket of Big Banks.
But Glass-Steagall had nothing to do with the 2008 financial crisis. It’s a distraction from the reforms we still need to prevent the next one.
Continued at www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democrats-are-wasting-their-time-obsessing-over-this-depression-era-law/2016/01/19/d026fff8-beab-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory .
This debate over Glass-Steagall needs to die already.
You’re forgiven if you have no idea what I’m talking about. Few Americans have reason to know or care a lot about the Glass-Steagall Act, an arcane, Depression-era law that restricted the kinds of activities banks could engage in.
The law was partly repealed in 1999, but for some reason the Democratic presidential candidates have become obsessed with it — and, specifically, with bringing it back.
They’ve brought it up at every debate and expounded on it on the trail. It’s become the left’s litmus test for whether a politician is “tough” on Wall Street. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Martin O’Malley advocate reviving Glass-Steagall, ergo they’re populist heroes; Hillary Clinton does not, ergo she’s in the pocket of Big Banks.
But Glass-Steagall had nothing to do with the 2008 financial crisis. It’s a distraction from the reforms we still need to prevent the next one.
Continued at www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democrats-are-wasting-their-time-obsessing-over-this-depression-era-law/2016/01/19/d026fff8-beab-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory .