Anniversary Sparks Renewed Efforts to Break Up the Banks

Thursday, November 12th marks the ten year anniversary of the repeal of the depression-era Glass-Steagall Act [6] that protected consumers from casino-style gambling on Wall Street and prevented significant financial crises for almost 60 years. As Congress took up a series of bills this fall to restore confidence in the financial sector, notably lacking were any bills to break up the big banks and restore Glass-Steagall protections.

Until now! U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders [7] (I-VT) on Friday, November 6th, introduced legislation [8] to require the Treasury Department [9] to identify the "too big to fail" institutions and break them up within a year so that their failure will no longer have a catastrophic effect on the United States or global economy. A growing list of prominent people from the left and the right support the notion of breaking up the banks, including former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker [10], former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan [11], former head of the Department of Labor Robert Reich [12], and Republican Senator Richard Shelby [13]. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) is considering similar legislation in the House.

Both Republicans and Democrats support meaningful reform. According to a national poll conducted for the Service Employees International Union [14] (SEIU), 72% of Independents and 57% of Republicans agree that: “The greed and risky decisions of banks and financial companies led to the financial crisis and recession, and it's time that Congress cracked down on their reckless practices." BanksterUSA.org [15] wants to give these citizens a voice in the fight and this week launched its Break Up the Banks initiative. Go to www.banksterusa.org to support Sander's approach and tell Congress to Break up the Banks!