I think what we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from (consumer) banking. Have banks be deposit-takers; have banks make commercial loans and real estate loans; and have banks do something that’s not gonna risk the taxpayer dollars, that’s not gonna be too big to fail.
Former Citigroup chairman and CEO SANFORD WEILL, appearing on CNBC to suggest that banks should separate their investment and consumer businesses altogether to help prevent a repeat of Wall Street’s financial collapse.
Everyone’s surprised, since Weill and his ilk gave us “too big to fail” in the first place. And, as Jon Stewart pointed out on tonight’s Daily Show, it started with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act — which mandated separation of commercial and investment banks — in 1999… a repeal Weill pushed for.
Sigh.
