Sen. Byron Dorgan, Who Predicted Financial Collapse Ten Years Ago, Retiring

By on January 7, 2010 in News 2

How easily we forget this whole mess started under a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, with the repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act in 199. Here’s Huffington Post from a few months ago that sums up why a guy like this retiring is a big deal. Dan Froomkin writes:

He got it right last time.

Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, was one of eight senators who stood up to oppose the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act in 1999. That repeal, which was signed into law by President Clinton exactly 10 years ago today, broke down the barriers between commercial banking and investment banking, and led to the growth of behemoth financial firms that were able to take enormous risks with impunity, because they were “too big to fail.”

“I think we will in 10 years’ time look back and say we should not have done this,” Dorgan said back then. The video of his speech has become something of a cult favorite for wonks — ten years, a $700 billion bailout and a major financial crisis later.

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  • 5by5

    More like “Demopublican” President. And a Republican-controlled Congress.

    Fact is, the lion’s share of the blame MUST go to John McCain’s little buddy Phil Gramm — and his midnight insertion of his Enron-authored (literally) “Commodity Futures Modernization Act” into the gargantuan omnibus spending bill of 2000.

    This was a provision that Gramm neglected to mention to any of his colleagues so that they might have a chance to say…. review it, or offer amendments, or realize that this would nuke the economy.

    There’s a reason why that douchebag’s nickname is “Foreclosure Phil”.

    http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/05/foreclosure-phil

    This is also the same wealthy jerk (now #2 at Swiss bank UBS) who called America a “nation of whiners” because people had the damned nerve to be upset that millions of people entered into poverty during the Shrub Administration, millions of jobs went bye-bye, and now fully 60% of ALL Americans aged 20-78 can expect to spend at least one year below the poverty line.

    But to Phil Gramm, the poverty’s just a “Mental depression” that’s all “in your head”.

    That kind of broad poverty is a not an “economic correction of a bubble economy” anymore, that’s SYSTEMIC problem that are the direct result of NeoCon economic policies. And the truth is, while Dems bear a responsibility for not resisting the NeoCon, Milton Friedman, Chicago-school BS forcefully enough, Republicans were the ones CREATING these problems and eviscerating the social safety net, via the last 12 years of a Republican-controlled Congress, and being in the White House for 28 of the last 40 years.

    But Phill’s got his, so I suspect he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you or your family.

  • 5by5

    More like “Demopublican” President. And a Republican-controlled Congress.

    Fact is, the lion's share of the blame MUST go to John McCain's little buddy Phil Gramm — and his midnight insertion of his Enron-authored (literally) “Commodity Futures Modernization Act” into the gargantuan omnibus spending bill of 2000.

    This was a provision that Gramm neglected to mention to any of his colleagues so that they might have a chance to say…. review it, or offer amendments, or realize that this would nuke the economy.

    There's a reason why that douchebag's nickname is “Foreclosure Phil”.

    http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/05/foreclo…

    This is also the same wealthy jerk (now #2 at Swiss bank UBS) who called America a “nation of whiners” because people had the damned nerve to be upset that millions of people entered into poverty during the Shrub Administration, millions of jobs went bye-bye, and now fully 60% of ALL Americans aged 20-78 can expect to spend at least one year below the poverty line.

    But to Phil Gramm, the poverty's just a “Mental depression” that's all “in your head”.

    That kind of broad poverty is a not an “economic correction of a bubble economy” anymore, that's SYSTEMIC problem that are the direct result of NeoCon economic policies. And the truth is, while Dems bear a responsibility for not resisting the NeoCon, Milton Friedman, Chicago-school BS forcefully enough, Republicans were the ones CREATING these problems and eviscerating the social safety net, via the last 12 years of a Republican-controlled Congress, and being in the White House for 28 of the last 40 years.

    But Phill's got his, so I suspect he doesn't give a rat's ass about you or your family.