"The Banking Miracle"

Joe Nocera, writing in today's New York Times, has a fascinating piece on the history - and the effectiveness - of the Glass-Steagall act regulating banking. Glass-Steagall, which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and separated retail banks from the financial speculation of Wall Street investment banks, was passed in 1933 - June 16 to be exact.

Glass-Steagall's wall of separation between financial speculation and banks holding customer deposits was repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.  Critics including Elizabeth Warren, Nouriel Roubini and Paul Volcker have suggested that the repeal contributed significantly to the financial crisis of 2008 and want to see such regulations re-implemented.

Read Nocera's piece HERE - a very useful history lesson.