The 1933 Glass-Steagall Act (click here) mandated the separation of banks, insurance companies and securities firms after the banking collpase that ushered in the Great Depression. But those restrictions were undone during 28 years of conservative economic rule that began with Ronald Reagan and found its boldest statement in 1999, when President Clinton signed the Financial Services Modernization Act, which tore down the walls separating banks, securities firms and insurers....
Is it true Senator Sanders voted for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act
October 9, 2015
Bernie Sanders' campaign (click here) message is built around a central theme -- wresting economic power away from Wall Street and returning it to working people. It's a message that closely tracks the voting record of the self-described socialist senator from Vermont.
But there is one significant blemish on that record. In 2000, Sanders voted for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, a landmark bill that blocked federal agencies from regulating credit default swaps -- the complex contracts at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.
The CFMA's chief architect was then-Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), a die-hard deregulator who joined Swiss banking giant UBS after leaving the Senate. Today, he's essentially the rhetorical opposite of Sanders, appearing in congressional hearings to literally bemoan the low pay of multimillionaire CEOs.
By 2000, Sanders was already an unpopular figure with big banks. The prior year, he had vigorously opposed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law which barred conventional banks from engaging in risky securities trading. Its repeal is widely viewed as fueling a merger binge that made companies massive and complex -- a catalyst for the banking collapse....
Is it true Senator Sanders voted for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act
October 9, 2015
Bernie Sanders' campaign (click here) message is built around a central theme -- wresting economic power away from Wall Street and returning it to working people. It's a message that closely tracks the voting record of the self-described socialist senator from Vermont.
But there is one significant blemish on that record. In 2000, Sanders voted for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, a landmark bill that blocked federal agencies from regulating credit default swaps -- the complex contracts at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.
The CFMA's chief architect was then-Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), a die-hard deregulator who joined Swiss banking giant UBS after leaving the Senate. Today, he's essentially the rhetorical opposite of Sanders, appearing in congressional hearings to literally bemoan the low pay of multimillionaire CEOs.
By 2000, Sanders was already an unpopular figure with big banks. The prior year, he had vigorously opposed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law which barred conventional banks from engaging in risky securities trading. Its repeal is widely viewed as fueling a merger binge that made companies massive and complex -- a catalyst for the banking collapse....
