Dorgan was right; Dodd & Lieberman were wrong
Regarding the financial meltdown, the Huffington Post's Dan Froomkin offers a necessary review of history:
He got it right last time.
Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, was one of eight senators who stood up to oppose the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act in 1999. That repeal, which was signed into law by President Clinton exactly 10 years ago today, broke down the barriers between commercial banking and investment banking, and led to the growth of behemoth financial firms that were able to take enormous risks with impunity, because they were "too big to fail."
"I think we will in 10 years' time look back and say we should not have done this," Dorgan said back then.
Byron Dorgan in his own words:
The US Senate's GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) roll call is here. Who were the eight voting nay?
Boxer (D-CA)
Bryan (D-NV)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Shelby (R-AL)
Wellstone (D-MN)
Among those voting yea:
Dodd (D-CT)
Lieberman (D-CT)
GLBA was a mistake. I'm glad to see the Banking Committee's ranking Republican got it right... though the rest of them were apparently out to lunch when this got discussed.
It's also worth noting that the Gramm in GLBA is Phil Gramm. He was an economic advisor to John McCain in 2008.
Tim White
8 comments:
I am not sure how Tim White takes his hat off to Senator Dodd in one post and then posts this. Dodd only is giving the appearance that he is doing the right thing with his new legislation. Tim White you may want to think about this: Dodd is introducing this legislation while we are right in the middle of the healthcare debate and the Iran/Afghanistan debate. So while the spotlight is shining elsewhere, the finance legislation slips through in the middle of the night. This tactic reminds me of the Bush administration.
10:01 it was about the employee of the year... your comments were off topic. Furthermore, you've repeatedly made statements, yet not provided evidence related to the details you claimed were true. Frankly, I suspect you are treading on thin ice with regard to the law.
Feel free to sign an LTTE and send it to the Herald with your name on it. But I'm not taking legal chances with your comments here.
Tim, Glass-Stegall repeal wasn;t the problem. Failing to properly supervise the newly empowered behemoths, well THAT's where the problem is to be found.
Remember, we had the S&L crisis under G-S; but the lessons about bank regulation leanred in that fiasco(what happened to FIRREA?) went by the wayside in the Greenspan money bubble
Lotsa factors - all of which we'll probably never know.
I still think the easiest answer is to transition toward full reserve banking (happening in a very limited way via recapitalization of many banks - the less leverage, the better for long term safety and soundness) and eliminate fiat money.
I am not sure how Tim White takes his hat off to Senator Dodd in one post and then posts this.
I'm talking about Dodd's issues, not Dodd.
while the spotlight is shining elsewhere, the finance legislation slips through in the middle of the night.
Hadn't thought about that. But then with regard to DC, I'm focused pretty exclusively on the money & banking stuff. I figure plenty of other people are focused on healthcare and central asia.
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