Chris Reese contributed to this post

In an article entitled “Our financial oligarchy,” published in Harper’s magazine in December 1913, Louis Brandeis, who three years later would be appointed to the Supreme Court, delivered a scathing critique of the banking sector that bears an uncanny resemblance to the charges against Wall Street today.

As the Libor scandal continues to widen, confidence in an already tarnished financial sector has been eroding further, having already taken a beating in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the massive Wall Street bailouts that followed. Five years later, banks are still seen as risky as their post-crisis actions not only fail to restore their reputations but actually push them deeper into disrepair.

Against that backdrop, Brandeis’ description of the rapid growth of investment banks and the expansion of their power in ways that make them behave like economically inefficient oligopolies sounds downright prophetic.

Here are some particularly relevant excerpts: