Restore Glass Steagall

Posted by | July 15, 2014 06:49 | Filed under: Contributors Opinion Stuart Shapiro Top Stories


Something as complex as the Great Recession has many causes.  One of the most prominent ones though was the deregulation of the banking industry by repealing the Glass Steagall Act.  Senator Warren is leading a movement to restore the protections in this New Deal era statute:

Petitions signed by nearly 600,000 Americans have landed on Capitol Hill, demanding restoration of Glass-Steagall banking regulations. . .

Glass-Steagall, enacted in the aftermath of the Great Depresson, was repealed by Congress in 1999. Less than eight years later, Wall Street crashed again.

Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers – along with nearly a dozen state legislatures – want Glass-Steagall back on the federal books.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; and Angus King, I-Maine, are among the chief Glass-Steagall co-sponsors with Warren.

We’ve done precious little to make another crash unlikely.  This would be an important step.

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Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.

8 responses to Restore Glass Steagall

  1. KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker July 15th, 2014 at 08:13

    Glass-Steagall was put in place for very good reasons after the great depression. Repealing it was a result of far too powerful moneyed interests buying our democracy.
    I love me some Liz Warren common sense in the morning!

  2. KABoink_after_wingnut_hacker July 15th, 2014 at 08:13

    Glass-Steagall was put in place for very good reasons after the great depression. Repealing it was a result of far too powerful moneyed interests buying our democracy.
    I love me some Liz Warren common sense in the morning!

  3. NW10 July 15th, 2014 at 08:57

    It won’t happen until Democrats have the House majority, Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate, and a Democrat is in the White House. As long as Republicans are running the show, ANY legislation reinstating Glass/Stegall will be blocked: either by Senate Republicans abusing the filibuster, or House Republicans refusing to take it up for a vote. Get Senator Warren 59 votes in the Senate and 218 votes in the House, that is how you make Glass/Stegall reinstated.

  4. (((NW10,PATRIOT! ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ))) July 15th, 2014 at 08:57

    It won’t happen until Democrats have the House majority, Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate, and a Democrat is in the White House. As long as Republicans are running the show, ANY legislation reinstating Glass/Stegall will be blocked: either by Senate Republicans abusing the filibuster, or House Republicans refusing to take it up for a vote. Get Senator Warren 59 votes in the Senate and 218 votes in the House, that is how you make Glass/Stegall reinstated.

  5. mea_mark July 15th, 2014 at 08:58

    I sure would like to see Hillary get behind this. It was after all her husband that signed the law repealing it. Granted, Bill does admit to it being a mistake and one of the worst things he did in office. Hillary supporting this openly and backing it would help legitimize her as a progressive and something more than just a front-runner of the democratic party.

    • NW10 July 15th, 2014 at 11:16

      Hillary is a progressive simply because she’s for advocating progress, which is the root word of “progressive.” And if President Hillary Clinton has a Republican House/Senate, what the hell good is complaining about her not being full on fledged progressive? Mrs. Clinton needs a majority behind her, same with Senator Warren. Without a Democratic majority in the House and a supermajority in the Senate, there is no Glass/Stegall. Period.

  6. mea_mark July 15th, 2014 at 08:58

    I sure would like to see Hillary get behind this. It was after all her husband that signed the law repealing it. Granted, Bill does admit to it being a mistake and one of the worst things he did in office. Hillary supporting this openly and backing it would help legitimize her as a progressive and something more than just a front-runner of the democratic party.

    • (((NW10,PATRIOT! ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ))) July 15th, 2014 at 11:16

      Hillary is a progressive simply because she’s for advocating progress, which is the root word of “progressive.” And if President Hillary Clinton has a Republican House/Senate, what the hell good is complaining about her not being full on fledged progressive? Mrs. Clinton needs a majority behind her, same with Senator Warren. Without a Democratic majority in the House and a supermajority in the Senate, there is no Glass/Stegall. Period.

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