For me, the basic idea is pretty simple: banking should be boring.
If Wall Street wants to make high-risk bets, that's fine -- but they shouldn't be doing it with money from your savings account.
For decades, the Glass-Steagall Act acted as a wall to separate risky investment banking from checking and savings accounts. But in 1999, after the big banks and their army of lobbyists spent decades (and millions of dollars) chipping at the rules, Congress repealed Glass-Steagall.
Senator Russ Feingold was on the frontlines for us during that fight back in 1999. Now I'm happy to have the support of the Progressives United community as we fight for a new 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act.
Thank you for signing on as a citizen co-sponsor of the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. Will you get your friends involved by sharing this important bill on Facebook and Twitter today?
As you may know, Senators Maria Cantwell, John McCain, Angus King and I have introduced a new 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act to once again separate ordinary banking from the high-risk activities that broke our economy.
The bill gives the financial institutions five years to split their commercial and investment businesses into distinct entities -- shrinking the size of our big banks and taking an important step toward ending "Too Big to Fail."
And because Wall Street won't be gambling with the FDIC-insured money in savings accounts, we'll help reduce the risk of future bailouts.
Nearly 50,000 members of the Progressives United community, like you, have already signed up as citizen co-sponsors of the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, but it’s going to take tens of thousands of people more to stand up to the big banks.
Help recruit more citizen co-sponsors. Share a post about the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act on Facebook or Twitter now.
When people like you and me work together, we can stand up to even the most powerful interests. That's how we'll level the playing field for working families and lower the risk of future crises.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Warren
U.S. Senator, Massachusetts
P.S. I'm so proud of Russ for taking his new position with the State Department, and I'm thrilled to support Progressives United as you continue your work fighting corporate influence while Russ serves.
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