Stop the Wall Street vultures

Paul Gwin, Las Vegas

Friday, Jan. 3, 2014 | 2 a.m.

Banking reform is long overdue in the United States. Robber barons are back in business on Wall Street and robbing us blind. They borrow money from the government, invest it in global corporation stocks, skim off the interest, and we will be stuck paying back what they borrowed, eventually. More profits pour into these Goldfingers’ pockets when the global corporations move their U.S. factories overseas where labor is cheap.

The Depression led the Roosevelt administration to institute banking reform with the Glass-Steagall Act. Gradually, billionaires have lobbied Congress, forcing removal of one after another of Glass-Steagall’s protections until none is left.

The U.S. is skating on thin ice, holding its breath, hoping that no one starts asking to be paid back. There isn’t much hope for banking reform as long as the House of Representatives is dominated by the Tea Party.

The first time a creditor country decides to collect on its debts, the avalanche will begin, making the bursting of the real estate balloon seem like a little dip in our economy. We should be sending a lot of bankers and stock market traders to jail because they are engaged in a big swindle that could ruin our country.