Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for Week Ending 4/3/2009 #2

Well I'm not necessarily sure I saw this big a crisis but I said at the time to the banks that if you want to gamble go to Las Vegas. I mean this was not about a crystal ball. It was just common sense at the time. You know in the 1930's we saw banks merge with you know real estate and security risks and the whole thing collapsed in the 20's and 30's and so we put in place, I wasn't here, but we put in place laws like Glass-Steagall to prevent all of that and then 1999 we were told that's all old fashioned. Let's strip that away and allow big financial holding companies one stop financial shopping and I thought it was nuts.

I mean how on earth can we forget the lessons that were so important that we learned so well and with such pain about seven decades prior?

Conservatives reject out of hand anything that was a part of the new deal. They will ignore the fact that Glass-Steagall effectively ended the banking panics that have dotted our history. It doesn't fit into their ideological view of the world, so it had to be compromised. (Far, far too many Democrats supported the measure as well, because too many stupid people have bought into the BS that is conservatism.) Here's the thing: Republicans don't care that the crisis occurred. To them, it's just something that happens in a capitalist economy. Screw the real world effects ... screw the unemployed ... screw those that have been foreclosed upon ... screw attempts to prevent it from happening again ... it just isn't conservative to care.

Source - Crooks and Liars