Paul Craig Roberts Declares U.S. Has No Future without Glass-Steagall

April 20, 2020 (EIRNS)—Paul Craig Roberts’ column on his website, headlined “Are We Brewing a New Feudalism?” on April 16, says the U.S. economy has no future without restoring the Glass-Steagall Act and infrastructure programs. A large share of households have no fallback savings and depend on employment income to pay bills from month to month; they will not survive this employment collapse and will lose their homes to Wall Street. The same is true for thousands of small businesses which will be lost.

Roberts calls this the coup de grâce of a long-term process.

“The destruction of the U.S. economy has been underway since global corporations moved middle class jobs offshore. It has been underway since the financial sector diverted a larger share of consumer income to the service of debt. It has been underway since corporations invested their profits in buying back their own shares instead of expanding their production capabilities. It has been underway since quantitative easing inflated stock and bond prices beyond realistic values. It has been going on since the rules against concentration were set aside and the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed. It has been going on since endless wars crowded out infrastructure investment and social safety net expansion.”