It's about how Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill easing restrictions on what banks could but more importantly, could not do. From the story, "The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression."
I'm not going to pin the blame of our current economic crisis on this one act of congress, but it sure didn't help. And I'm not going to blame one party, since it looked like most everyone was on board this piece of art. However, there were a few dissenting voices. Among them was Senator Byron L. Dorgan, D, ND, who was quoted in the story:
''I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010,'' said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. ''I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.''
Ummm... Yup. I'd say we're doing a good job of forgetting the past, not learning, and shooting ourselves in the foot, if not the head!
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