I published the following as a comment to the article.
- Tom White
- Burlington, VT
This proposal ignores reality. The institutions that failed were primarily old fashioned banks and investment banks that would have been in place even if Glass-Steagall had been in place. Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers did not take deposits. AIG was an insurance company. Countrywide and Washington Mutual were Savings Banks. The British Banks that needed saving failed on their mortgage holdings. Citibank needed saving not because of securities trading, but because of their banking investment in securities. This does not address the root cause of the Housing Bubble: Inadequate regulation and criminal fiduciary failure by the Rating Agencies.
Notice that after 5 hours I have 3 recommends. The other 33 comments are all anti-bank and many have substantially more Recommends. I have spent most of my career either working in a bank or with bank products and analyzing the banking industry. I think I know something about banking, and while the Housing Bubble cost me my well paying job and substantial savings, I am not going to start advocating policies that make no sense. What is stunning is that an article like this should get readers who know as much as I do, but they either don't read the comments, or only the wacko's who hate the banks click on recommends.
Anyway, clearly banks get no love.
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