It's Not Just the Republicans

An article some are loving for its supposed bluntness, really isn't all that blunt. Here is its description of 90's era deregulation, aka - "The Big Takeover"

In 1999, Gramm co-sponsored a bill that repealed key aspects of the Glass-Steagall Act, smoothing the way for the creation of financial megafirms like Citigroup. The move did away with the built-in protections afforded by smaller banks. In the old days, a local banker knew the people whose loans were on his balance sheet: He wasn't going to give a million-dollar mortgage to a homeless meth addict, since he would have to keep that loan on his books. But a giant merged bank might write that loan and then sell it off to some fool in China, and who cared?

The very next year, Gramm compounded the problem by writing a sweeping new law called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act that made it impossible to regulate credit swaps as either gambling or securities.

There's a little problem. Clinton signed the Glass-Steagall Act, and its final version was passed 90-8 and 362-57 in the two chambers of Congress. It was supported and shaped by Rob Rubin, (Secretary of Treasury 1995-1999) and Larry Summers (Secretary of the Treasury 1999-2001). Larry Summers is still around as one of Obama's chief economic advisors.

By not mentioning both parties role in deregulation, this article distorts history in a very factual way. Deregulation was not just thought up by a bunch of goulish Republicans. There were plenty of goulish Democrats on board, as well.