Today is the anniversary of the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.

What is it and why did its repeal lead directly to the banking collapse (and multi-trillion bailout) of 2008.

The premise of Glass-Steagall was simple:

You can make all the wild and crazy financial bets you want, but you can’t do that and take depositors money too.

Seems fair, seems reasonable, especially since the taxpayers guarantee the safety of deposits in US banks.

Was the disaster of repealing the Glass-Steagall Act predictable?

Yes, and here’s veteran Wall Street pro Pam Martens testifying about it in 1998.

So, we’re going to put the law back into effect, right?

No. Obama didn’t do it. Clinton wasn’t going to do it. And I doubt Trump will do it either.