There’s a petition below asking members of Congress to sign a bipartisan bill to reinstate a 21st Century Glass Steagall Act. Americans for Financial Reform is an research/advocacy group of progressive organizations that are in solidarity with financial reform.

The quality of this organization is exemplified, IMO, by the fact that Alexis Goldstein is a senior researcher for this organization. As you may remember, she was interviewed several times by Chris Hayes on MSNBC during the Occupy sit ins. I think she mentioned in one of those interviews that she had worked on Wall Street and that experience,  intelligence and dedication shone through in the interviews Chris did with her on how risky the deregulation of Wall Street was to the financial system. When I learned that Alexis was working at Americans for Financial Reform  I signed up for alerts because Alexis was one of the most thoughtful and cogent public voices for reform who spoke out during and after the Great Recession of 2007-2008.

Here’s a link to the web site of Americans for Financial Reform:

http://ourfinancialsecurity.org

Here’s the note and the petition below that  I received via email from Americans for Financial Reform that summarizes this critical bill :

“Hi,

The language of the platform of both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions calls for a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, a law that supported a more level economic playing field and a six-decade rise of a more egalitarian financial system and strong middle class. Luckily, there is already a bill in Congress to do just that: The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act (S. 1709)! This bill is a modern version of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall that is sponsored by Senators Warren, Cantwell, King, McCain, Sanders, Baldwin, Whitehouse, Mikulski, Markey, and Merkley.

The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act will help tackle “Too Big to Fail” by shrinking and simplifying the banking system, ensuring that the riskiest banking activities are no longer supported by the public safety net, and regulators can more easily oversee banks that are central to financial stability. Restoring Glass-Steagall wouldn’t just make our financial system safer, it would diminish the influence of big bank money in politics – by introducing more competition among investment banks and commercial banks.

Stability in America depends upon a viable middle class. The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act provided excellent protections for that class and the economy as a whole. Its reinstatement will go a long way to providing a powerful economic safety net that will more reliably limit ongoing risk to the strongest economy in the world.

That’s why I signed a petition to Representative Jeb Hensarling, Chairman, House Financial Services Committee and Senator Richard Shelby, Chairman, Senate Banking Committee, which says:

“Both the Democrats and Republicans made re-instating Glass-Steagall a part of their party’s official platform. Congress must quickly back this up with action.

The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act is a bipartisan bill to restore a modern version of Glass-Steagall. To fulfill the promise of the DNC and RNC platform language, the Chairs of the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees should move this legislation forward as soon as possible. ”

Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/schedule-a-vote-on-the?source=s.fwd&r_by=425382

Thanks!”