I remember debating the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act back in a college English class. Glass Steagall was born in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929 in the midst of the Great Depression. It was designed to safeguard the public against undesireable speculation between commericial and investment banks. It became a law in 1933. Back then I wouldn't haven't been able to tell you the difference between Glass Steagall and 'A Flock of Seagalls.'
Some kid wrote a paper about the merits of it's repeal and we had to do a peer review of it. That must have in 1995. Although I don't remember having much of an opinion about the content of the paper I do remember thinking he was a crummy writer. Funny the things we remember.
I bring this up because I suspect we'll be hearing more about Glass Steagall in near future. As this banking crisis soaks into John Q's collective consciousness next year there is going to be debate about the wisdom of this laws repeal.
The law itself was officiallly repealed on November 12, 1999 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act signed by President Bill Clinton. wikipedia article here
It is interesting to note that on that day the S&P 500 was at 1388.51 and Friday, Sept 20, 2008 it closed at 1255.08 for a loss of about 10%. Now that is what I call progress, NOT!!!
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2 comments:
Good history lesson. Keep 'em coming!
coincidentally, had lunch a couple weeks ago w/ a guy who I used to work with, and he said he'd been thinking about putting together an essay about Glass-Steagall. I offered to help..got any more pointers on background info?
btw, doesn't look like your attempt to link to the wikipedia article worked..we're going to have to do a blogging 101! maybe next week..
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