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(h/t: http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/ )

This week marks the 10th anniversary of a reason we’re in the mess we’re in: the GOP Congress and President Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. In short, it killed some pretty important aspects of banking laws dating back to the Great Depression. Restrictions on interplay between commercial banks and investment banks were essentially eliminated.

As reported in The New York Times, “’Commercial banks played a crucial role as buyers and sellers of mortgage-backed securities, credit-default swaps and other explosive financial derivatives,’ Demos, a nonpartisan public policy and research organization, wrote in a report discussing the problems it said were caused by the repeal of Glass-Steagall. ‘Without the watering down and ultimate repeal of Glass-Steagall, the banks would have been barred from most of these activities,’ Demos said. ‘The market and appetite for derivatives would then have been far smaller, and Washington might not have felt a need to rescue the institutional victims.’”

And the news just gets better: “U.S. deficit sets October record of $176.4 billion”

Is there a bigger idiot than Chicago Mayor Richard Daley? You’d be hard-pressed to find one.


King Idiot...

Finally, did you know that “More Stimulus Equals More Unemployment?” You do now…