Op-Ed: Ralph Nader Writes About The Causes Of Our Current Financial Meltdown

Ralph Nader begins his editorial in the Counterpunch newsletter by criticizing right wingers in the media and Congress who are claiming that the Democrat-dominated Congress of 1977 caused our current financial problems by passing the Community Reinvestment Act. It was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter. The Community Reinvestment Act required banks to report on where and to whom they were making loans. It was passed into law because banks were discriminating against minority borrowers. The Nader article on the Counterpunch website states what banks were doing to poor neighborhoods prior to the passage of the law: ''Redlining'' was the name given to the preactice by banks of literally drawing a red line around minority areas and then proceeding to deny people within the red border home loans-even if they were otherwise qualified.'' Congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. The Glass-Steagall Act was designed to separate banking from securities activities. Nader fails to mention that President Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act into law. He also fails to mention that Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999.