The Banking Act of 1933, colloquially termed Glass-Steagall after its authors Carter Glass and Henry B. Steagall, was an early New Deal-era set of regulations that were imposed upon Wall Street after the havoc it wreaked upon the American consumer up to the crash of 1929. Glass-Steagall was an important regulatory act that was eventually repealed in 1999 by both Republicans and Democrats in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that ultimately made a massive contribution to the world financial crisis in 2008 and created the Great Recession that followed it.
The people demand new protections for themselves and their country. Wall Street can no longer play Russian Roulette with our savings. Protecting the future begins with reinstating Glass-Steagall. We got it right in 1933. We can do it in 2011.