“Decisively, the Glass-Steagall Act forced institutions within the banking community to pick a side. If you want to deal with the population at large, take their deposits, give them a safe place for their savings and make reasonable loans for which you are as responsible as the borrowers — terrific. As a commercial bank, you will have the newly established Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) backing your depositors. We, the federal government, will regulate you. If you want to raise capital through speculative investors at home or overseas — fine. But as an investment bank, you don’t get our backing and you don’t get to mix it up with citizens’ lives or use their capital to fund your trading activities.” (09/17/08)