Blame Who For The Financial Mess? reprinted from the chattanoogan.com

Blame Who For The Financial Mess?
posted September 25, 2008

"Clinton Signs Legislation Overhauling Banking Laws"By Reuters, November 12, 1999
"President Clinton signed into law today a sweeping overhaul of Depression-era banking laws. The measure lifts barriers in the industry and allows banks, securities firms and insurance companies to merge and sell each other's products."This legislation is truly historic," President Clinton told a packed audience of lawmakers and top financial regulators." "We have done right by the American people." (Italics added)"The bill repeals parts of the 1933 Glass-Stegall Act and the 1956 Bank Holding Company Act to level the domestic playing field for the United States financial companies and allow them to compete better in the evolving global financial marketplace.

"Analysts and industry leaders say the measure will probably fuel a wave of mergers as companies compete to build financial supermarkets offering all the services customers need under one roof."Financial stocks were winners on Wall Street today, with J.P. Morgan & Company, Citigroup, American Express and Merrill Lynch all posting big gains. That helped the Dow Jones industrial average end up 174.02 points at 10,769.32."The Senate approved the final bill by 90 to 8 on November 4 and the House followed suit by a vote of 362 to57. Congress had previously made almost a dozen unsuccessful attempts over the last 25 years to revise the statutes, which had increasingly come to be viewed as anachronisms."The world changes (and Lord knows we need change)(parenthesis mine) and Congress and the laws have to change with it," said Senator (Republican) Phil Gramm of Texas, chairman of the Banking Committee and one of the bill's prime sponsors."Supporters of the legislation say it will also benefit consumers, providing them with greater choice and convenience and spurring competition that will lead to lower prices."With this bill," Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers (you know, the one blaming the Bush Administration) (again parenthesis mine) said, "the American financial system takes a major step forward toward the 21st Century-one that will benefit American consumers, business and the national economy." (right!) (yep, mine) Opponents (including the Independent Bankers Association of America) said it would have the opposite effect, creating behemoths that will raise fees, violate customers' privacy by sharing and selling their personal data, and PUT THE STABILITY OF THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM AT RISK. (Italics and caps, mine)"The privacy issue was a key factor in the long and often heated negotiations that produced a compromise bill, and President Clinton made clear he still wanted to see more done to safeguard consumers' personal financial information. (ID thefts increased 1000 fold afterward.) (Mine)."President Clinton said the Treasury and White House would put together a legislative proposal to take to Congress next year that would extend the privacy provisions of the legislation.(end of article)Now someone please tell me how the governor of Texas, at that time, can be held responsible for the problems we have in the financial structure of the economy. This was a prime example of "If it ain't broke, don't break it." But you know the politicians - they can't leave well enough alone.By the way, as a retired banker, I was totally against this bill as were most of my community bank colleagues.
Terry Bridgman
Rossville
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Thank you Terry for doing your research and presenting a very real explanation. Even though your biase is very pronounced you presented verifiable facts that really show the why today's corporate scape-goating versus yesterday's corporate ass-kissing just further demonstrates the two-faced hypocrisy that DC is overflowing with.