Great timing, Sandy! OK, Feds, now we can break up the failed socialized super banks. The King has spoken: Essentially, Weill was calling for the resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act, which for 66 years separated pure deposit banking from other financial services until it was repealed in 1999, much to the Street’s glee. (The 1998 merger that built Citigroup required the Federal Reserve to temporarily waive the Act.) “I’m suggesting that they be broken up so that the taxpayer will never be at risk, the depositors won’t be at risk,” Weill added. The best way to make money now as a bank, he elaborated, is as a pure-play company that needn’t worry about how its consumer and proprietary units potentially run afoul of new regulations. (Former Citi Chairman Richard Parsons experienced a similar revelation earlier this year. The deal’s co-architect, ex-CEO John Reed, has been remorseful for most of the 14 years since he shook hands with Weill.) http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-25/sandy-weills-untimely-second-thoughts
In fairness we had to have over a decade of trial & error before our lauded Masters of the Universe came to the same conclusion that regulators in the 1930s had already figured out.
Which Masters figured that out? I don't see Paul Ryan & Mitt Romney beating this particular drum, and they may well be our Masters come November.
None of them. They were winging it in the late 90s and got Clinton & Congress to believe their BS. Any promises of "this will be the best financial innovation ever" should automatically be met with skepticism. Citi stock is down 90% since this brainfart was instituted.