Ex-CITIGROUP CEO Blames Glass-Steagall Repeal for Financial Crisis

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20. The REAL blame lies with.....

...Senator Phil Gramm, who pushed for a provision in what became known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to de-regulate swap derivatives: bank interest rate swaps and especially credit default swaps. The overleveraging of these instruments, coupled with declines in housing values, left the major institutions with colossal balance-sheet liabilities that they couldn't cover with their available assets. Had they gone the normal route of declaring bankruptcy, their sheer size would have pulled down the entire financial system like a chain of dominoes.

Had these swaps been properly regulated (they still AREN'T, BTW) these banks would not have been so heavily exposed, and their danger would have been significantly mitigated. But thanks to that right-wing turd Gramm, who was not only helping out his banking buddies, but also HIS WIFE (who was a major player in the banking business), and thereby HIMSELF(!!), we had the greatest financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

Don't ever forget that these bastards are only out to enrich themselves, the 1%, and to hell with the rest of us!

Phil Gramm should be rotting in jail right now, along with Bush and Cheney!