Robert Reich: Hillary Clinton’s Glass-Steagall

[UglyGreed]

Hillary Clinton won’t propose reinstating a bank break-up law known as the Glass-Steagall Act – at least according to Alan Blinder, an economist who has been advising Clinton’s campaign. “You’re not going to see Glass-Steagall,” Blinder said after her economic speech Monday in which she failed to mention it. Blinder said he had spoken to Clinton directly about Glass-Steagall.

This is a big mistake.

It’s a mistake politically because people who believe Hillary Clinton is still too close to Wall Street will not be reassured by her position on Glass-Steagall. Many will recall that her husband led the way to repealing Glass Steagall in 1999 at the request of the big Wall Street banks.

It’s a big mistake economically because the repeal of Glass-Steagall led directly to the 2008 Wall Street crash, and without it we’re in danger of another one.


It’s a mistake politically because people who believe Hillary Clinton is still too close to Wall Street will not be reassured by her position on Glass-Steagall. Many will recall that her husband led the way to repealing Glass Steagall in 1999 at the request of the big Wall Street banks.

It’s a big mistake economically because the repeal of Glass-Steagall led directly to the 2008 Wall Street crash, and without it we’re in danger of another one.

{snip}

Hillary Clinton, of all people, should remember.



http://robertreich.org/post/124114229225

[Hoyt]

1. Dodd-Frank, Volcker Rule and Clinton's additional proposals are all that's needed. Not some 70+ year

old law.

[UglyGreed]

2. A 70 year old

law that worked fine until.............

[Hoyt]

10. Folks like Krugman disagree.

[UglyGreed]

11. Proof is

in the pudding, ask the people who lost their pensions...........

[Hoyt]

12. GS would have done nothing to prevent that.

[UglyGreed]

13. Deregulation

is good, got it. Whoa let me check where I am posting. Could I have stumbled onto Red State forums by mistake?

[Hoyt]

15. This thread is about GS, which wasn't cause of lost pensions. I'm all for tough pension regs.

[ThePhilosopher04]

4. All that's needed to ensure that BIG BANKS continue fleecing ...

the American people.

[cosmicone]

3. Blah blah blah blah

Bernie Sanders doesn't even understand what Wall Street is.

[UglyGreed]

5. .

[Thinkingabout]

6. Since you know what Reich has said, what is wrong with what Clinton has said?

[UglyGreed]

7. Hillary says a lot of things

but seems to change her mind depending on political or financial gain. Sort of like her position on gun control.....

Q: Do you support the DC handgun ban?
A: I want to give local communities the authority over determining how to keep their citizens safe. This case you’re referring to is before the Supreme Court.
Q: But what do you support?
A: I support sensible regulation that is consistent with the constitutional right to own and bear arms.
Q: Is the DC ban consistent with that right?
A: I think a total ban, with no exceptions under any circumstances, might be found by the court not to be. But DC or anybody else [should be able to\ come up with sensible regulations to protect their people.
Q: But do you still favor licensing and registration of handguns?
A: What I favor is what works in NY. We have one set of rules in NYC and a totally different set of rules in the rest of the state. What might work in NYC is certainly not going to work in Montana. So, for the federal government to be having any kind of blanket rules that they’re going to try to impose, I think doesn’t make sense.
Source: 2008 Philadelphia primary debate, on eve of PA primary Apr 16, 2008

[Hortensis]

8. Here's what Mr. Reich did not address.

This is a recent NY Times analysis of HRC's plan to regulate Wall Street. It does take Dodd-Frank farther and is far from doing nothing. (Frankly, I want this AND Glass-Steagall, redundant or not.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/upshot/how-hillary-clinton-would-regulate-the-too-big-to-fail-banks.html?_r=0

Another point that needs to be kept in mind: CONGRESS MAKES THE LAWS. The kind of true financial reform we want MUST come from Congress, not the White House. The president administers the laws Congress passes. Does anyone doubt Elizabeth Warren and a newly prestigious Bernie Sanders will be fighting for true reform in the Senate, which is exactly where we need people like that if we are to have reform?

Below is a link taken from another thread to Paul Krugman's take, which points out just that, concluding,

"The contrast with Republicans like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, who have pledged to reverse even the moderate financial reforms enacted in 2010, couldn’t be stronger. ...

If a Democrat does win, does it matter much which one it is? Probably not. Any Democrat is likely to retain the financial reforms of 2010, and seek to stiffen them where possible. But major new reforms will be blocked until and unless Democrats regain control of both houses of Congress, which isn’t likely to happen for a long time.

In other words, while there are some differences in financial policy between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders, as a practical matter they’re trivial compared with the yawning gulf with Republicans."

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/opinion/democrats-republicans-and-wall-street-tycoons.html

[AgingAmerican]

9. The casino must keep running unabated

Else the caviar will stop flowing.

Glass Steagall stops the banks from gambling with their customers deposits.

[MaggieD]

14. Reich is wrong

First, he's not an economist (he's a lawyer). He is just objectively wrong here. I will trust Krugman any day over Reich.

Second, he's all in favor of Bernie's college plan, but he fails to disclose that he gets paid $250k per year to teach one class at a public university (UC Berkely). He's part of the reason college is so expensive. Dude is full of himself, and a hypocrite to boot.

IMO.

[Thinkingabout]

16. Good points, in fact was labor secretary and has lost his footing somewhere.

[azmom]

17. $250k in a year. Hillary makes that in a

20 minute speech to Wall Street. But, that doesn't matter to you. Hypocrite much?

[UglyGreed]

18. K