Taming the Megabanks: Why We Need a New Glass-Steagall Act was published online in September and will be published in hard cover Oct. 2 by Oxford University Press. The book is by George Washington University law professor Dr. Arthur Wilmarth, a recognized leading expert on the act, who has been writing articles and columns calling for its restoration for years. Wilmarth’s Sept. 30 op-ed based on the book in The Hill is entitled, “To Restore Financial Stability, Bring Back Glass-Steagall.”
In the column, Wilmarth’s primary argument is about debt. “The global response to the pandemic confirms that we have not solved the problems that brought us the Great Recession more than a decade ago. The world remains trapped in a ‘global doom loop’ in which governments and central banks must ensure the survival of ‘universal banks’ (banks that engage in capital markets activities) and ‘shadow banks’ (large nonbank financial institutions such as private equity firms, hedge funds, insurance companies and mutual funds). Central banks must buy troubled financial assets to ensure the stability of financial markets and forestall threats to the survival of financial giants. Meanwhile, financial giants underwrite rapidly rising levels of debt for governments, businesses and households.”
