A BILL
To address the concept of ‘‘Too Big To Fail’’ with respect
to certain financial entities.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Too Big to Fail, Too
5 Big to Exist Act’’.
6 SEC. 2. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON INSTITUTIONS THAT
7 ARE TOO BIG TO FAIL.
8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not later
9 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
10 Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to Congress a list
2
1 of all commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds,
2 and insurance companies that the Secretary believes are
3 too big to fail (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Too Big
4 to Fail List’’).
5 SEC. 3. BREAKING-UP TOO BIG TO FAIL INSTITUTIONS.
6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, begin-
7 ning 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
8 Secretary of the Treasury shall break up entities included
9 on the Too Big To Fail List, so that their failure would
10 no longer cause a catastrophic effect on the United States
11 or global economy without a taxpayer bailout.
12 SEC. 4. DEFINITION.
13 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘Too Big to Fail’’
14 means any entity that has grown so large that its failure
15 would have a catastrophic effect on the stability of either
16 the financial system or the United States economy without
17 substantial Government assistance.
Introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. That is…the ENTIRE bill.
Believe it or not.
It’s a simple bill to solve a simple problem, but is it too complicated for Congress? I would like to start off by explaining what the Glass-Steagall act was and how it saved this country from certain end.
A bill passed in 1933; Glass-Steagall Act was pushed through during a nationwide time of bank failures and on the coat tails of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It was created by 2 members of Congress…Carter Glass and Harry Steagall, respectively. Franklin Roosevelt signed the Act on June 16, 1933. This is all coming off of the Hoover Administration, which did prove to be a lame-duck. To cut to the chase, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 also known as; “The Banking Act 1933″ separated commercial and investment banking. It also prevented the commercial banking industry from participating in investment banking. Not only did it do the aforementioned, it also created the FDIC(Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” (http://law.jrank.org/pages/7165/Glass-Steagall-Act.html) saved this country from catastrophe, there is no doubt about this.
“But this is just more regulation…blah blah blah…” Yeah…so what? Regulation is clearly what need since the private sector can not handle itself in a responsible way. Why should the economic fate of this country be concentrated in a few companies? Talk about a disaster waiting to happen…oh wait, it already has, twice. Those who argue against government regulation are the exact same assholes who are causing the problems. Those who have gotten a little to close to the industries. Letting their money guide their political views.
Perhaps it is time for a…New Deal?
for further reading on the Glass-Steagall act of 1933; Glass-Steagall Act
