Bear Stearns

During this time period, homeownership typically required a 20 percent down payment (Melicher & Norton, 2014, 168). Lending institutions were very careful about whom they lent money to, and credit standards were high (Melicher & Norton, 2014, 168). Melicher & Norton (2014) called this the “save now, spend later” philosophy, and it would change in the coming years (p. 168).

The 1930s, the period of the Great Depression is perhaps the most unstable financial time in United States history. The decade where more than 40 percent of nation’s banks disappeared crippled the economy for years and caused the Senate to pass the Glass-Steagall Act (part of the U.S. Banking Act of 1933). The main purpose of the legislation was to separate commercial and investment banking, limiting commercial banks’ securities and activities within commercial banks and securities firms and to restore confidence in the U.S. banking system. For the next 30 or so years, there was a substantial government safety net and government played a huge role regulating the economy and maintaining the aggregate demand through fiscal and monetary policies. (Arthur MacEwan. “Inequality, Power, and Ideology: Understanding the Causes of the Current Economic Crisis.” Real World Macro, Economic Affairs Bureau, Inc. November 2012.)

Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act was important, because it ended the disgraceful epidemic of bank failures.

The Glass-Steagall Act came into existence largely due to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. The crash and its aftermath caused Americans to lose faith in the banking system. Glass-Steagall attempted to restore the public’s faith in banks by separating commercial banking from investment banking and providing insurance on bank deposits. The Act worked as intended but its effects slowly diminished over the next 67 years and deregulation in the banking industry culminated with the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999 by then President Bill Clinton.1 The GLBA gutted Glass-Steagall and ended restrictions on intermingling between commercial and investment banking.1 Many believe the GLBA was a major cause of the financial crisis that erupted in 2008.

The dot-com bubble in 2000 was the start to the, still current, historically low interest rates – all thanks to the Federal Reserve. Since interest rates were so low, many Americans decided that now was the time to get the “American Dream” and buy houses, since the values were going up and mortgage and insurance rates were so low. By serially refinancing, people were quite literally treating their homes as a money bank, and not thinking twice of the equity they were loosing in the process, because they thought that the value would only go up, while their mortgages would decrease, and were blinded by the so called “American Dream”.

According to the book Security policies and procedures: Principles and practices states, “On November 11, 1999, the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, GLBA effectively repealed the restrictions placed on banks during the six preceding decades, which prevented the merger of banks, stock brokerage companies, and

The Glass Steagall Act was passed on 1933, which is also known as The Banking Act to tighten regulation on the way banks did their business. This act was written as an emergency measure when about 5,000 banks failed during the Great Depression. Banks mostly failed because of the way they would invest with money. The act prohibits banks from investing money on investments that turn out to be risky. Banks could no longer sell securities or bonds. The act also created Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect the deposits of individuals, which is still used to this date. The FDIC in this era insures your deposits in your bank up to $250,000. This gave the public confidence again to deposit their money in the bank. In 1933

Shortly after the implementation of the original act in 1933, Senator Glass removed support for part of his own bill due to a study done in that same decade. The research concluded that securities underwritten by non-commercial banks suffered the same consequences as those wrote by commercial banks prior to 1933; thus causing unnecessary harm to an already strained market. His revision to Section 16, which prohibited commercial banks from trading in non-government securities, to once again have the ability to underwrite risky speculative securities. This amendment passed through the Senate, but was ultimately killed in the Congressional process due to a lack of support from President Roosevelt. Glass is not the only opposition the bill saw before it’s repel in 1999. Another adamant opponent to Glass-Steagall has been former President Bill Clinton. It was during this administration that Laurence H. Summers was appointed as Treasury Secretary. Summers then fought for deregulation of the financial safeguards set in place by Glass-Steagall and praised Congress when its replacement, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, shifted through. Summer’s and Clinton’s criticism, however; is not without a solid standing or reason. The G-S Act allowed banks to face tougher competition from unregulated retail and consumer stores that began to offer a line

Glass Steagall Act limits activities, affiliations, and securities within commercial banks. It was passed after the great depression. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was passed in 1999 that enacts the U.S to control its way of financial institution deal while having the private information of other individuals. The point was to not let banks get into risky investment activities.

In the mid-2000s the housing market was flourishing which caused homebuilders like the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. The Federal Reserve banks interest rates went 6.5% to as low 1%. Which made

In relation to the increase in house’s price, the rise of financial agreements such as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO) encouraged investors to invest in the U.S housing market (Krugman, 2009). When housing price declined in the U.S, many financial institutions that borrowed and invested in subprime mortgage reported losses. In addition, the fall of housing price resulted in default and foreclosure and that began to exhaust consumer’s wealth and

The Banking Act of 1933 was passed by the United States Congress on June 16, 1933. The Banking Act of 1933 is also knows the Glass-Steagall Act, especially when referring to the principal provision of separating commercial banks and investment banking. The term Glass–Steagall Act, however, is most often used to refer to four provisions of the Banking Act of 1933 and only two of those provision restricted or limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms. That limited meaning of the term is described in the article on Glass–Steagall Legislation. Which means, an act to provide for the safer and more effective used of the assets of banks, to regulate interbank control, to prevent the undue diversion of funds into speculative operations, and for other purposes.

The banking industry as a whole after the stock market crashed was going bankrupt due to not being able to carry the “bad debt” that was created from using customer money to buy stock. Because the banks were out of money, they were unable to cover customer withdrawals from their bank, causing many bank customers to lose all of their savings. With the uncertainty of the future of the banking industry, many people withdrew all of their savings, which caused more than 9,000 banks to close their doors and go out of business (Kelly). Due to the effects of the Great Depression, and the collapse of the banking industry, the government created regulations to prevent similar failure in the future. For Example, the SEC, (or Securities Exchange Commission), which regulates the sell and trade of stocks, bonds and other investments was created as a result of The Great Depression. The FDIC (or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), was created to insure bank accounts so that that the consumer would be protected if the bank were to go out of business (Kelly). The Great Depression's effect on the banking industry led to many useful changes to the banking industry and helped restore confidence in banks in the American people.

Though in most areas of the country the housing market has rebounded even creating another balloon in the real estate market. Many lessons were taught with the collapse of the housing market. Having purchased my first home in 2015, I found out how selective mortgage lenders are now with providing mortgage loans. The lowering of the interest rate and the increase in employment has help stabilize the economy and revived the housing market. Dokko, Doyle, Kiley et all validated that America strayed too far away from the Thomas Rule when issuing interest rates and when valuing properties.

In 1999 the United States Congress passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act which finished off the repealing process of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 (Moffett, Stonehill, & Eiteman, 2012, p. 114). The Glass-Steagall Act had imposed barriers within the United States financial sector, where commercial banking entities were separate from investment banks. This meant that commercial banks were able to operate in higher risk activities that were traditionally reserved for the investment institutes. Commercial banks were now able to directly offer their customers a wider array of loans, including creative mortgage arrangements.