Was the current recession created in 1999?
The current recession, as I”m sure those who”ve kept themselves updated on the news will agree, has been caused mostly by the “subprime mortgage crisis of 2007.”
Many have passed blame for this saying it was caused by people taking out loans they couldn”t really afford, or by banks authorizing the loans knowing the borrowers couldn”t afford them (in speculation hoping the fluctuations in price would earn them more money than typical interest), or, and for no apparent reason, many have blamed the current administration for this economical crisis.
But, let”s think about this, to whom is the blame really due?
History lesson: the current recession is much like the recession that led into the Great Depression of the 1930s. I”ve even heard one economist call this the “Bush Depression.”
After that Great Depression, Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act (a.k.a., the Banking Act of 1935), headed up by Democratic Senator Carter Glass and Democratic Congressman Henry Steagall, which introduced the separation of bank types according to their business (commercial or investment banking), and it founded the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) for insuring bank deposits.
This basic act was able to prevent a major recession due to speculative lending by a bank or lender for almost 70 years; when you separate the banks, the lenders are unable to afford loans because they simply have less money to put into play.
In 1999, Democratic Senator Phil Gramm led the Senate Banking Committee which sponsored the act that would allow multiple banking types to merge, (such as the Citibank/Travelers Group merger in 1997 to form Citigroup) which would have been illegal, by repealing the Glass-Steagle Act.
It seems our country fails, time and again, to learn from history. Bill Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act into existence and thus repealed the Glass-Steagal act of 1935. Under this new act, banks were no longer regulated in the same way ? and the safety we had had for almost 70 years was undone in the last year of the last term of “America”s most beloved currently living president.”
I suggest that the masses should possibly research the information that is readily available to them before they jump to conclusions about any candidate or politician because of the false information spoon-fed them by partisan sources
The people in local and state governments responsible for and having run Louisiana for over 20 years during Katrina were liberal Democrats. The last Democrat President and Congress we had led us into what could be the next Great Depression; the current liberal Democrat majority Congress we now “enjoy” have failed to vote the Supreme Court nominees by President Bush in out of sheer willful negligence leaving hundreds of court cases stranded and our justice system jeopardized for their own agendas.
Why has the Democratic Party strayed so far from the policies that actually worked for the American people to this lackadaisical do-nothing approach simply for the sake of opposing their opponents.
David A. Petty
Kelseyville
Editor”s Note: According to the U.S. Congressional biography website, Senator Phil Gramm of Texas served as a Democratic Congressman in the Sixth District from 1978 to 1983, then after changing party affiliation, won reelection and served as a Republican Congressman from 1983?1985. Gramm was later elected as a Republican Senator from Texas (1985?2002).
