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riversedge

(69,713 posts)
Sat Oct 10, 2015, 10:47 AM Oct 2015

Hillary Clinton called for Wall Street accountability a year before the 2008 crisis.

x-posted


@HillaryClinton called for Wall Street accountability a year before the crisis.


Tweet:
The Briefing ?@TheBriefing2016 Oct 8

#TBT to when @HillaryClinton called for Wall Street accountability a year before the crisis. http://hrc.io/1R17s6A




And here is Hillary's 2007 speech:


http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=77081


Hillary Clinton
Remarks on Wall Street on Housing Crisis

December 5, 2007


The American Presidency Project

Thank you all very much. It is a real pleasure to be here and I appreciate those kind words. It's wonderful being back in the city - and to have a chance to come here again, I believe for the fourth time, and to have a chance to speak with you about an issue that is on the minds of everyone, whether I'm here in New York or in New Hampshire, or in Iowa or any of the other places I've been traveling to lately. It's a topic of conversation that has to be put at the top of our nation's agenda.

Now we know that not far from here Wall Street is humming. The phones are ringing, the blackberries are buzzing. And people are making billions of transactions that raise capital for corporations and deliver value to shareholders every day.

And what happens on Wall Street today - like every day - will ripple across the country and the world. I'm proud to represent New York, to represent the financial capital of the world. I see a lot of people who I recognize in this audience that are integral to what happens in our markets, how we create wealth, how we provide a dynamic economy that will hold out the promise of a better life for so many of our fellow citizens, but indeed for people far flung from here. I do want to recognize Speaker Silver, Shelly Silver, thank you very much for being here with me.

And we in New York, probably more than anyone anywhere, know how critically important is it for our economy and for the global economy, that Wall Street stay on the cutting edge of finance and remain what it always has been, the global finance capital of the world. But we know that the standard for any economic system is not just that it creates growth, but that it lifts up families across America who work hard and dream big every day. ................

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Hillary Clinton called for Wall Street accountability a year before the 2008 crisis. (Original Post) riversedge Oct 2015 OP
Robert Reich: Hillary Clinton's Glass-Steagall portlander23 Oct 2015 #1
... Faux pas Oct 2015 #3
Stop confusing people with facts mcar Oct 2015 #2
;-) riversedge Oct 2015 #5
When We Stand Together - No Citizen Need Settle For The Lesser Of Two Corporate Evils - Go Bernie Go cantbeserious Oct 2015 #4
 

portlander23

(2,078 posts)
1. Robert Reich: Hillary Clinton's Glass-Steagall
Sat Oct 10, 2015, 10:51 AM
Oct 2015
Robert Reich: Hillary Clinton's Glass-Steagall

Hillary Clinton won't propose reinstating a bank break-up law known as the Glass-Steagall Act ... It's a mistake politically because people who believe Hillary Clinton is still too close to Wall Street will not be reassured by her position on Glass-Steagall. Many will recall that her husband led the way to repealing Glass Steagall in 1999 at the request of the big Wall Street banks.

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.

A personal note. I worked for Bill Clinton as Secretary of Labor and I believe most of his economic policies were sound. But during those years I was in fairly continuous battle with some other of his advisers and cabinet officers who seemed determined to do Wall Street's bidding.

On Glass-Steagall, they clearly won.

To this day some Wall Street apologists argue Glass-Steagall wouldn't have prevented the 2008 crisis because the real culprits were nonbanks like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

Baloney. These nonbanks got their funding from the big banks in the form of lines of credit, mortgages, and repurchase agreements. If the big banks hadn't provided them the money, the nonbanks wouldn't have got into trouble.

Remember? Their balance sheets were full of junky paper, non-performing loans, and worthless derivatives. They were bailed out because they were too big to fail. And the reason for resurrecting Glass-Steagall is we don't want to go through that again.

As George Santayana famously quipped, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the roaring 2000's, just as in the Roaring Twenties, America's big banks used insured deposits to underwrite their gambling in private securities, and then dump the securities on their customers.

It ended badly.

This is precisely what the Glass-Steagall Act was designed to prevent -- and did prevent for more than six decades.

Hillary Clinton, of all people, should remember.

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