From the archives of Time magazine, a worthwhile read on how US bankers reacted to the “monstrous system of guaranteeing bank desposits” – aka, financial regulation, 1933 style:
Through the great banking houses of Manhattan last week ran wild-eyed alarm. Big bankers stared at one another in anger and astonishment. A bill just passed by both houses of Congress would rivet upon their institutions what they considered a monstrous system of guaranteeing bank deposits. Such a system, they felt, would not only rob them of their pride of profession but would reduce all U. S. banking to its lowest level. They saw their deposits which they had spent a lifetime to build up and protect with their good names confiscated by the Government to pay for the mistakes and dishonesty of every smalltown bankster.
The context for this resurgence of interest in a decades-old Time piece? Barack Obama cited the article in his speech in New York on Thursday on the small matter of overhauling US financial regulation.
(H/T @pkedrosky and various Tweeps)
Related links:
Dear Wall Street: join me, or else – FT Alphaville
What was at stake in the spat between Henry Luce and Harold Ross? – The New Yorker
The New Yorker – Time Magazine, 1925
How Henry Luce Shaped Our Life and Time – From the Potomac