737 Comments

Thank you, Professor Reich, for succinctly interweaving all the different dynamics in play. The three things that could move our nation to a more just, honorable, and forward, thinking nation are:

1- Return of the full weight of Glass-Steagall

2- Mandate all campaign funding for elected office be from public not private money

3- End the practices of companies buying back stock, along with banning stock shares as part of executive compensation

With these three things in place, we take away some of the major reasons why big corporations have disproportionate power on legislation and oversight. You take away their payola dance with legislators, and restrict key factors in furthering monopoly capitalism.

Catering to greed does nothing to enhance the continuing of our civilization. Thank you Robert for making this all tangible for us.

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i think glass-steagall must be reinstated. but then, i'm a person whose funds are few and fleeting. the last thing i (and millions like me) need is to make our funds even fewer and more fleeting. otherwise, what's the point of working when all your funds and many of your assets can disappear forever into a wealthy elite's portfolio?

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Glass-Steagall worked. There was never a sound reason to repeal it. Of course it should be reinstated because Wall Street will always eat Main Street’s lunch if you let it. Banks should not gamble with other people’s money -- or homes. Flesh and blood citizens are made to pay the price of bad behavior by fiduciaries acting contrary to the interests of their clients. Reinstating Glass-Steagall is the best solution.

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Glass-Steagall Act should be reinstated, and all other deregulations instated during the trump's should be nullified. Problem is how? We have the Senate, but the House has a spineless speaker, puppeteered by the MAGA right-wingers, whose purpose is to go to the bottom of Hunter's laptop and whether the SARS-COV 2 was leaked or not, aside from other "very important" legislative agenda, while the country is crumbling. We need competent people like Bernie Sanders and Dr. Reich in power, more than ever!

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Mar 13, 2023·edited Mar 13, 2023

Our system is run by the rich who never go to prison. Risk is carried by the public, and profits are paid to the rich since Glass-Steagall was repealed. Clinton has said this was his worst-ever decision.

GREED is truly the most terrible challenge of our times, and capitalism is its tool, its means to power and more greed.

Greed is a (contagious) mental illness, an unfillable hole, a hunger that denies justice, a brutal expression of broken egos.

Greed is having a million times as much as the poor and still feeling you don't have enough.

Greed consumes the earth without respite, and is a cancer on humanity.

Greed destroys us and our children and their future.

Greed is death.

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Agree absolutely. I will also add a question: How many more times are taxpayers going to tolerate this double standard of fiscal irresponsibility for the wealthy? An ordinary family would not be bailed out if they handled their money like this. They would face financial ruin. Not these guys, though.

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What do we think?

We think you should re-think Bernie Sanders' suggestion.

As Secretary of Labor working with the Secretary of Commerce, we will be in good hands--secure ones. Competent ones.

Thanks for this informative post, Robert Reich.

~R.

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"You will obey me while I lead you

And eat the garbage that I feed you,

Until the day that we don't need you -

Don't go for help... no one will heed you.

Your mind is totally controlled,

It has been stuffed into my mold,

And you will do as you are told,

Until the rights to you are sold"

So, Zappa didn't sing specifically about our Big Bank Deregulation Ponzi Scheme, but it fits…

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Republicans de-regulate

Democrats co-operate

Predictable conclusion

From all this collusion

Trains de-railing

Banks failing

.

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Excellent, and on point. This was where Obama lost me back in 2009. Thus I can only hope that the Biden administration takes on banking regulation with utmost speed and concern. The same, btw, goes for regulating the monopolies.

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Being greedy costs consumers dearly and will start a contagion of bank failures particularly if the fed does not react by lowering interest rates. The problem is going to get worse unless new laws are enacted to watch those greedy bastards much more closely. I’ve been very worried since the fed started raising rates. I think we are going to see lots and lots of fallout. I hope I’m wrong! You were correct in your assessment of the fed. I hope Yellend and Congress act swiftly and decisively to rectify the Fed’s mistake. Lord help us!

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We need to prohibit universities from granting MBA degrees! What kind of person, when confronted with choosing from all of human knowledge at a great university, would opt for a degree in advanced-lemonade-stand? MBAs can't run banks competently, or airlines, or resource extraction, and manufacturing flees from their grasp. Our economic affairs, and beyond, are run by sociopaths. I have read that in other societies more companies are run by engineers than by MBA's...not sure.

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Clinton and Obama both loved banking industry 💸 💰 cash.

Clinton repealed Glass Steagulll.

Obama, via the DOJ run by the revolving door 🚪 guys from Covington and Burling (Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer), failed to prosecute those responsible for the Great Recession.

Now the FDIC, Treasury and Fed serve up another example of "privatize the profits, socialize the risk" and TBTF. If the regulators concluded this bank failure was a "systemic risk" that warranted special treatment, where is the enhanced oversight of such banks 🏦 🤔

Sounds like bank 🏦 management violated investment rule 1: failure to have a diverse portfolio and spread the risk among investment classes.

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The whole sordid story makes the whole banking industry sound like a Ponzi scheme.

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Heads they win, tails we lose. Fed raises interest rates to slow down job creation because the tight job market is seen as detrimental to Wall St. Rising interest rates make bank investments worth less, so banks overinvested in "safe" investments start to lose money, particularly banks with too many uninsured depositors, who get spooked by the sudden losses, move their uninsured deposits out of bank, causing collapse of bank and another bailout. Everything is set up to protect the wealthy. Tired of having pee trickling down on me.

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I’m feeling more and more insecure about the future every day. Inflation, rising interest rates, banks going under possible job losses and a recession down the road all of which could be prevented by the system that is enabling the chaos.

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