“The more things change, the more they stay the same” is a refrain that’s comforting to turn to, because it tells us that there’s a pattern and a precedent to all things; there exists some sort of blueprint for us if only we take a moment to look at history. That’s an idea Elizabeth Warren, who served as Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, seemed to echo when speaking to Dan Rather back in 2009. Now, her words take on additional relevance as the Occupy Wall Street protests continue to spread across different U.S. cities.

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Here’s what Warren had to say about “panics” and how we’ve dealt with such economic depressions in the recent past:

About every 15 to 20 years we have another crisis. We call them panics. We have different names for them. […] Depression. But they happen about every 15 to 20 years for 140 years. The pattern is just unmistakable. Then we hit the Great Depression. And coming out of the Great Depression we put three new regulations in place: Glass-Stiegel, which divides our community banks basically from the Wall Street investment banks, FDIC insurance, put money in the bank and know that it’s safe and some SEC regulations so you can invest on Wall Street and they can’t cheat you too directly. That’s what we put in place. For 50 years we have no bank failures, no major crises. It works. Now, there’s innovation. There’s change. It’s time to change regulations.

Have a look at Warren’s comments:

h/t Elephant Journal

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