The war on Wall Street bankers.

Raw Story:


From 1933 to 1999, the Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial banking from investment banking, preventing deposit-taking banks from using consumers' money for risky stock market investments.

For two decades prior to Glass-Steagall's repeal, the financial sector experienced robust, record-breaking growth.

And less than a decade after the law was repealed, the US's financial system experienced near-total collapse, forcing the government to bail the big banks out with hundreds of billions in taxpayers' money.

Yet, despite these basic facts, bankers are saying that a return to the Glass-Steagall Act -- which would see some of the US's largest banks get broken up -- would have a "severe effect" on the banking system, and are warning that it would mean banks would lend less to businesses and consumers, further hurting the economy.

“The impact on Wall Street would be severe,” Wayne Abernathy, a vice president at the American Bankers Association, told Bloomberg news service.