The case for Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law we need today | Ganesh Sitaraman

The case for reviving the Glass-Steagall Act has surprising support across the political spectrum. Here's why we should listen

Eighty-five years ago this weekend, on 16 June 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Banking Act of 1933, better known today as the Glass-Steagall Act. Until it was formally repealed in 1999, the Glass-Steagall Act required a separation between depository banking and investment banking (and later, insurance companies).

In recent years, the idea of resurrecting the law has had surprising support across the political spectrum. Progressive Democrats have advocated for its reinstatement consistently since the financial crash of 2008. The official 2016 Republican party platform embraces bringing back Glass-Steagall. Former heads of Citigroup have said it was a mistake to repeal the law. And, for a time at least, the Trump administration seemed open to the idea of revival.

We can think of a modern Glass-Steagall as something like a ban on mergers that create conglomerates

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