U.S. Green Party Calls for Glass-Steagall

August 20, 2013 • 9:52AM

The U.S. Green Party has come out for the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall.

In a press release issued on August 19, 2013, co-chair Starlene Rankin said, "Repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, signed by President Clinton, was part of a trend in financial-sector deregulation that ended 50 years of relative economic stability. In the early 1980s, deregulation of the Savings & Loan industry under President Reagan triggered the first major crisis. The leadership of both established parties have continued to support deregulation, with bailouts instead of jail terms for the firms that engaged in predatory lending and fraudulent trading,"

Julia Willebrand, Green candidate for New York City Comptroller and an active member of the Occupy Wall Street Alternative Banking Working group, added, "The repeal allowed banks to expand into investing, resulting in increased competition and reckless and often criminal investing practices to produce enormous short-term profits — with minimal accountability regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans are in power. The big banks have learned nothing from their mistakes. They're already pushing for taxpayer-funded bailout insurance for unregulated high-risk derivatives trading."

Noting that Glass-Steagall's repeal had "removed the firewall between commercial and investment banking, allowing banks to turn risky loans into securities" the statement outlined the pyramid scheme in "toxic" loans which resulted. Unfortunately not fully understanding the larger Glass-Steagall Principle, the statement includes a laundry list of "bottom(s) up" add ons which would also be necessary for a "stable economy."

The OWS Alternative Banking Working Group was, at one point, actively following LPAC's work on financial issues.