Moyers & Company — Season 1, Episode 3: How Big Banks are Rewriting the Rules of Our Economy

Episode synopsis

Big banks are rewriting the rules of our economy to the exclusive benefit of their own bottom line. But how did our political and financial class shift the benefits of the economy to the very top, while saddling us with greater debt and tearing new holes in the safety net? Bill Moyers talks with former Citigroup Chairman John Reed and former Senator Byron Dorgan to explore a momentous instance: how the late-90’s merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group – and a friendly Presidential pen — brought down the Glass-Steagall Act, a crucial firewall between banks and investment firms which had protected consumers from financial calamity since the aftermath of the Great Depression. In effect, says Moyers, they “put the watchdog to sleep.” There’s no clearer example of the collusion between government and corporate finance than the Citicorp-Travelers merger, which — thanks to the removal of Glass-Steagall — enabled the formation of the financial behemoth known as Citigroup.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1On Winner-Take-All Politics
• E2Crony Capitalism
• E4How Do Conservatives and Liberals See the World?
• E5Economic Malpractice and the Millennials
• E6Decoding the Campaigns
• E7Where Movies End and Politics Begins
• E8Moving Beyond War
• E9Standing Up For Democracy
• E10Gambling With Your Money
• E11An Optimist for Our Times
• E12The Case for Old-School Faith & Politics
• E13Big Money, Big Media, Big Trouble