Breaking Into Wall Street Pdf
Kenya Ahyet
Certain divisions of those banks were no longer allowed to coexist with others. The law split the parts of banks that placed bets by creating and trading certain risky securities and those that took deposits and provided loans. In other words, it ensured that the investment bank and the commercial bank would no longer cohabit. Put another way, it separated bankers with a heinous gambling habit from those who only wanted a secure nest egg. It was simplicity itself.
After 1933, the gamblers and savers went their separate ways, which proved a boon for the economy and the financial system for nearly seven decades. Then legislators, lobbyists, bankers and regulators started to chisel away at the wall separating those two kinds of banks. By November 1999, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act totally. The abusive marriages of gamblers and savers could once again be consummated.
This division and the as-yet unresolved nature of the Trump administration response to the Glass-Steagall question could, in the face of another financial crisis, come back to haunt us all, if it translates into more bailouts and systemic failures.
As with the proverbial difficulty of chewing gum and walking at the same time, certain Democrats seem to find the very idea of supporting both Dodd-Frank and a new Glass-Steagall Act perplexing. Many of them have promoted the idea that no big bank actually failed in the Great Recession moment (which was true only because those banks got huge infusions of federal aid to remain solvent). As a result, they avoided all responsibility for the way the repeal of Glass-Steagall allowed too-big-to-fail banks to come into existence in the first place.
In the 1980s, the walls between investment and commercial banking first began to crumble. The deregulation of the financial sector that followed would prove to be as bipartisan as the passage of Glass-Steagall had been. In 1982, as the Republican presidency of Ronald Reagan began, Congress passed the Garn-St. Germain Act, deregulating the kinds of investments that savings and loan banks could make to include riskier real estate loans. This had the effect of exacerbating the savings and loan debacle, which hit its pinnacle in the late 1980s. By 1989, more than 1,000 S&L banks in the US would crash and burn. In total, the crisis wound up costing about $160 billion, $132 billion of which was footed by taxpayers. And the suppliers of risky S&L securities tended to be the big banks.
Your party and your own appointees are split on the subject. Where will you fall? You could still commit yourself to securing the financial well-being of our nation for generations to come. You could commit yourself to Glass-Steagall. The question is: Will you?
Iat Hong and Chin Hung, 50, of Macau, and Bo Zheng, 30, of China . . . made more than $4 million in illicit profits after breaking into the servers of top deals law firms in New York, the U.S. said in announcing charges and the arrest of one of the men. The three targeted at least seven major international law firms that had been retained by companies to advise on deals and successfully got into the e-mail accounts of senior lawyers at two of the firms, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday. They profited on deals and speculation involving the drug maker Intermune, chipmaker Intel Corp. and business services company Pitney Bowes Inc., the U.S. said.
The are certain moments in time that people can reflect exactly where they were when it happened (i.e.- Challenger disaster, 9/11 terrorist attack). For many Minnesotans, the collapse of 35W bridge in Minneapolis is one of those moments.
TOM CRANN: There is more about Marianne's story online now at minnesotapublicradio.org, a slideshow. Visit our website. It is 6:30. And we have some breaking news to tell you about before we go off to Marketplace here on Minnesota Public Radio News, and that is that our Twin Cities television stations are reporting a major bridge collapse.
It is said to be at 35W and University. There is a fire there. There is smoke, and there are cars said to be in the river. This is being confirmed as well by MnDOT, that there has been a major bridge collapse. That would be just east of downtown Minneapolis, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. And the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in both directions has collapsed into the river.
And that is what television stations here in the Twin Cities are reporting, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Multiple cars, even a report of a truck in the river. Very dramatic video now on TV of this well-known Minneapolis landmark very close to the University of Minnesota and downtown Minneapolis.
Again, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the website is reporting that the Interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis has collapsed into the river in both locations. And as we get word of any injuries or any additional information about that, we will have it for you, as we continue to monitor this event here on Minnesota Public Radio News.
But for now, we will go off to Marketplace, and we'll bring you more information as it becomes available in the Minnesota Public Radio newsroom. So please avoid that area if you're in the Twin Cities. Drive safely and listen to Minnesota Public Radio News for further updates.
TOM CRANN: You're listening to Minnesota Public Radio News. I'm Tom Crann in the Minnesota Public Radio newsroom at 6:44. And we have a breaking story to pass on to you. There has been a major bridge collapse in Minneapolis, on one of the most well-traveled thoroughfares in the Twin Cities metro. The freeway bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis has collapsed, and it's sent many cars into the water. We're talking about the entire span of the 35W bridge.
The 35W bridge near University Avenue collapsed at about 6:05 this evening. That is where the freeway crosses the river near University Avenue. Tons of concrete have collapsed. People are injured. Survivors are being carried up the riverbank. According to live television pictures, there is-- well, there are a lot of twisted metal and some cars that appear to be both in the river, one truck on fire, and then the debris of the bridge as well being shown live on television pictures.
Some people stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water. Earlier, a tractor-trailer was on fire at the collapse scene. Smoke can be seen coming from the collapsed part of the bridge as well. Workers were said to be resurfacing part of that bridge earlier. And the details here are sketchy, because this has just happened within the past half hour or so. But our own Cathy Wurzer is there very close to the scene in Minneapolis, has been by there. And Cathy, can you hear me?
CATHY WURZER: I can, Tom. Thanks. I'm on Southeast 4th Street, about two blocks off of the accident site. And I'm surrounded by news crews and a number of emergency vehicles from Roseville, Lake Johanna, New Brighton. A number of suburbs are sending in crews, boats, rescue boats, that kind of thing. They're trying to get to the river and launch to get some of the victims that are evidently still in the river.
It's really hard to tell from my vantage point, because I'm about two blocks away. I'm looking south at this point. Billowing smoke, as you mentioned, from this fire, the tractor-trailer on fire. And it is just a mob scene around here. U of M police are attempting to direct traffic, but where I am, which is just off of Dinkytown, streets are clogged. Traffic, as you might imagine, is just a mess. People are running back and forth crying. One woman said that she saw at least 20 cars in the river. Of course, that's obviously third-hand. I haven't seen it myself.
TOM CRANN: All right, Cathy. And please be safe, and let us know what's going on. Can you see or tell at this point how much of Interstate 35W is closed? I imagine it's closed in both directions now, through much of downtown Minneapolis. Can you tell which way they're diverting, or is anything like that going on?
CATHY WURZER: You know, I came in-- I was in the general area here. So I came down University Avenue. And obviously traffic in both directions on 35W is closed, clearly. You can get as far as Stinson Boulevard to the south. I should say to the north, I guess. And then I have no idea what's happening to the south, to be honest with you.
CATHY WURZER: Obviously, we have a number of officers here who are really, at this end, trying to direct traffic. Because it is such a mess, and they're trying to get these emergency vehicles through and to the river. And I wish them luck, because it really is a difficult situation here.
TOM CRANN: And from where you are, can you see how much of the bridge has actually collapsed, or what it looks like? Because it's a familiar landmark to all of us in the Twin Cities. What does it look like?
CATHY WURZER: Pretend if you would that you were on 35W driving into Minneapolis. Therefore you would be heading south. And from what I see at this point, the road itself dips down and then comes up. The problem is, it's not coming up. It's not there, if you get my drift. So I'm not close enough to really see the damage at this point.
My colleagues, of course, from television stations are all up in the air at this point. You probably hear the helicopters in the background. They obviously have a bird's eye view of the situation down below in the river. But no, you cannot see-- there's no road in front of you, in other words. And so it's presumably all gone.
CATHY WURZER: I'm sorry, no. Although I am seeing-- I just saw-- there's a gentleman that was just right behind me. And he had a bandage over his head, and he was being led by two emergency EMTs. And they're coming up from this area a couple blocks away. So I really don't have a clue in terms of numbers or anything like that. Presumably it's a--
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