Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is co-sponsoring a bill by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. This important piece of legislation would prevent commercial banks from engaging in risky investment schemes that nearly destroyed the economy in 2008.

Hillary Clinton won’t propose reinstating a bank break-up law known as the Glass-Steagall Act, according to Alan Blinder, an economist who has been advising Clinton’s campaign. “You’re not going to see Glass-Steagall,” Blinder said after she failed to mention it in her economic speech. President Bill Clinton signed the law that repealed Glass-Steagall, a post-Depression measure signed by Democrat Franklin Roosevelt.

“I strongly support Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s bill to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act,” Sanders said.

On July 1, 1999, while Congress was voting on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to permit commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies to merge, then-Rep. Sanders said: “I believe this legislation, in its current form, will do more harm than good. It will lead to fewer banks and financial service providers; increased charges and fees for individual consumers and small businesses; diminished credit for rural America; and taxpayer exposure to potential losses should a financial conglomerate fail. It will lead to more mega-mergers; a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry; and further concentration of economic power in our country.”

Looking back today, Sanders said: “Allowing commercial banks to merge with investment banks and insurance companies in 1999 was a huge mistake. It precipitated the largest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world. It caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, homes, life savings and ability to send their kids to college. It substantially increased wealth and income inequality and it led to the enormous concentration of economic power in this country.”

Sanders continued: “I am proud to have led the fight in the House against repealing the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. Sixteen years ago, I predicted that such a massive deregulation of the financial services industry would seriously harm the economy. I would give anything to have been proven wrong about this but unfortunately what happened seven years ago was even worse than I predicted.”

Sanders concluded: “Today, not only must we reinstate this important law, but if we are truly serious about ending too big to fail, we have got to break up the largest financial institutions in this country. If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”

Speaking of Hillary Clinton’s position, economist Robert Reich says, “It’s a big mistake economically because the repeal of Glass-Steagall led directly to the 2008 Wall Street crash, and without it we’re in danger of another one.”

“The idea is pretty simple behind this one,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said. “If banks want to engage in high-risk trading — they can go for it, but they can’t get access to ensured deposits and put the taxpayers on the hook for that reason.”

Connect with NJTODAY.NET

Join NJTODAY.NET's free Email List to receive occasional updates delivered right to your email address!