Split Up The Banks! Restore Glass-Steagall

Common Dreams - Ten years ago, the Republican-controlled Congress - egged on by that champion deregulator, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm - passed legislation that arguably did more to plunge the United Common Dreams - States into our crippling great recession than anything else: It repealed the Great Depression era's Glass-Steagall Act.

Then on Nov. 12, 1999, an acquiescent Democratic president, Bill Clinton, signed the repeal into law.

Even Citigroup's co-founder, John Reed, said earlier this month that he's sorry for creating the monster and that it was a big mistake when the bank merged with Travelers, opening the door to massive risk.

Indeed, Reed said Glass-Steagall should be restored, joining former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who has been trying to convince the Obama administration of the need to return to the act's strict regulation. That would mean breaking up the "too big to fail" institutions and restoring banks to being banks and investment houses to their own businesses. Read more.