Blame The Subprime Meltdown On The Repeal Of Glass-Steagall

The Consumerist ^ | 4/17/2008 | Ben Popkin

[twntaipan]

A lot of blame has sloshed around for the sub-prime meltdown, from greedy borrowers to greedy mortgage brokers to Alan Greenspan, but if you want the real culprit, it was the repeal of the Glass-Stegall Act. On November 12, 1999, the champagne must have been shooting from the walls at Citigroup, which had worked behind the scenes for over 30 years to get the act overturned.

Snip - Snip

Robert Rubin was (Clinton's) Secretary of Treasury, which had oversight over Glass-Steagall regulation. Days before he resigned, Glass-Steagall was repealed. Just over a year later, he became chairman of the Citi executive committee, with an annual compensation of $40 million, a position he still holds, despite Citigroup's $24 billion in subprime-related losses.

[twntaipan]

Rubin, Rubin, I've Been Thinkin', Bout your Citibank be stinkin...

[onguard]

Does this mean we need more government oversight of the financial markets, not less?

[Jacquerie]

More of the Clinton stench. Everything was for sale.

[A Cyrenian]

I thought the melt down according to Larry Kudlow, was because of Apparently, many (most?) of these people in crisis are "minority homeowners" and pressure "to approve" is being brought upon some lenders by inner-city law firms, such as the one that Obama may have worked for in Chicago. All under the guise of "anti-discrimination." (forcing these lenders to approve loans to minorities regardless of "affordability," that would otherwise have been "wisely" rejected

Kudlow Quote

[org.whodat]

Its repeal, under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, drafted and passed by a Republican congress, and signed by Billiam Jefferson Clinton, allowed commercial banks to merge with investment banks.

No doubt, now which republican slipped the wording in the transportation bill so the Saudis could buy up American roads.

[Moonman62]

So was Travelers the investment bank or the mortgage writer? Does the author know that Citi and Travelers separated in 2002 and Travelers was completely sold off in 2005?

[NonValueAdded]

Clinton’s fault!!!