Paul Krugman’s recent rant in the New York Times about the impact of Judge Rosemary Collyer’s ruling on whether Met Life is to big to fail is not only misguided but, well, just plain wrong. While he is correct in that other firms will now challenge their own status, he is wrong to blame Met Life and its mascot Snoopy for the impending undoing of the global financial system. The real enemy here is not the judge, Congress, Met Life or even Snoopy, but rather Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and President Bill Clinton.
Under Rubin’s Treasury reign, not long before he took an executive role at Citigroup, he and President Clinton orchestrated the repeal of the 1930’s Glass-Steagall Act with 1999’s Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Glass-Steagall had been put in place to insure the stability of the banking system in the wake of massive bank failures during the Great Depression. Glass-Steagall set strict guidelines that defined both banks and insurance companies and regulated what products and services they could offer and in what financial markets they could operate. The demise of Glass-Steagall allowed the creation of massive financial corporations that offer insurance as well as investment and commercial banking services. That set the stage for the financial behemoths that failed and shocked the system during the credit crisis eight years ago.
Mr. Krugman believes that should Judge Collyer’s ruling stand, many other giants will challenge being designated as to big to fail, thus setting the stage for another financial crisis. According to Mr. Krugman, without regulation, a financial crisis is bound to happen. I don’t know if this is true – but clearly Met Life is in Mr. Krugman’s doghouse along with Snoopy, and that’s pointing blame at the wrong organization.
THINGS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY
I am sick and tired of people being mean and nasty in line waiting to board a plane. Recently, I was at LaGuardia heading to Florida and the level of rudeness was truly unbearable. This is a trend that needs to stop. The people at the desks and those who are working to get passengers off and on a plane are just trying to do their job: getting people off and on a plane. The passengers at this gate were just awful. The level of moaning, groaning and complaining was ridiculous. I don’t know how the workers at the gate put up with it. It is a trend that is growing and while I understand people’s frustration with airlines, the idea of treating workers this way is appalling. It has to stop. We are all better than this.