Well Now. Here's an interesting turn.

[liberalpress]

Today, in talk show land, the focus seems to be to place the sole blame for the financial crisis square on the shoulders of Bill Clinton. No, that seemed a bit odd to me (i mean why bring up Bill Clinton? Why not just make stuff up about Obama like they usualy do?) Then it hit me! They know they've lost! They have to talk about something, so they're just having fun amongst themselves. Why else bring up Clinton. Keep working folks and we might get a decisive win here!

[wtmusic]

1. You mean that guy who left the White House with a budget surplus?

:rofl:

And up is now officially down.

[caledesi]

2. Good One! NT

[On the Road]

3. It Has to Do With Repealing the Glass-Stegall Act

which separated investment from commercial banking. (It also established the FDIC BTW.) That did happen under Clinton.

While it may have been a bad idea, it's a stretch to attribute the current problems to that legislation. There's no reason the same mortgage and derivative problems couldn't have occured under the old structure. The investment bank problems would not have affected commerical banks or vice versa, but they would both have still have happened separately.

It's basically a dodge to blame a Democrat.

[LiberalEsto]

4. Was that act passed by a rethug Congress

or a Democrat-controlled Congress?

[On the Road]

5. It Was Passed with the Support of Clinton and Rubin

So even though deregulation is a Republican issue, there is a basis for attributing that specific legislation to the Democrats.

[MadHound]

6. Actually, given the regulations in Glas-Steagle, it would have been virtually impossible

For financial institutions to get away with the shit that they have since those portions were repealed. So yes, Clinton did indeed contribute to this mess. After all, he had to pay back the financial sector, who were his biggest election year backers.

Financial corruption, it's a bipartisan thing.

[On the Road]

8. Could You Elaborate?

The only part of that act I'm familiar with is that commerical banks could get into investment banking and vice versa. Was it that or some other repealed regulations that would have prevented this?

[LiberalEsto]

10. Nice try -- it was a repuke bill

I can't see how Bill Clinton can be blamed for this mess.

The repeal of Glass-Steagall was achieved by a Republican-controlled House and Senate. It was veto-proof, so Clinton could not reject it.

Trust repukes to play 1984 and attempt to manipulate history whenever it suits them. It's so EASY to blame Bill Clinton instead of taking responsibility.

Sen. Phil Gramm, who recently called us a "nation of whiners" because of our concerns about the faltering economy, was the primary sponsor of this bill.

According to Wikipedia:
"The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the United States and included banking reforms, some of which were designed to control speculation. Some provisions such as Regulation Q that allowed the Federal Reserve to regulate interest rates in savings accounts were repealed by the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980.

Provisions that prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies were repealed on November 12, 1999 by a bipartisan, conference committee version of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act signed by President Bill Clinton."


More wiki:

"The bills were introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (R-TX) and in the House of Representatives by James Leach (R-IA). The bills were passed by a 54-44 vote along party lines with Republican support in the Senate<1> and by a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives."

"Democrats agreed to support the bill only after Republicans agreed to strengthen provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act and address certain privacy concerns.<3> The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. Without forcing a veto vote, this bipartisan, veto proof legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999."

[Marr]

7. I find it both hilarious and pathetic for these people to STILL be blaming Bill Clinton for

the problems they create.

Republicans have been in power for a very long time now. They've reversed a lot of things that came about on Clinton's watch-- the surplus for example. If they'd wanted to reverse the Glass-Stegall, they had plenty of time to do it. They did not, because *they* wanted it.

[Subdivisions]

9. Alex Costellanos (sp.?) yesterday said on Blitzer's Sunday

show that the current financial problems began with Clinton's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act">Community Reinvestment Act. And the Dem pundit didn't do a very good job of defending Big Dog.