In a September 22, 2008 interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!,
Senator Bernie Sanders famously said that if a bank "is too big to
fail, it probably is too big to exist." That should be a watchword
slogan of any effort to fix the financial system. Major responsibility
for the financial collapse rests with the deregulation process that
allowed for the consolidation of banking power in the hands of Wall
Street. Reversing that process should be an immediate priority.
Before Wall Street there was Main Street
Taxpayers' bailout money for AIG bonuses
has rightfully provoked a massive backlash against AIG, Wall Street,
President Barack Obama and his economic advisers, Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers. The U.S. public now owns 80 percent
of AIG. The outrage is bipartisan: Iowa Republican Sen.
