Ron Paul Nailed It

...back in 1999, he was opposed to the Gramm-Leach-Briley act that flattened the Glass-Steagall Act and therefore paved the way for the mess we're currently facing.

Via Reason, here are a few of his reasons that sound especially prescient:


* The growth in money and credit has outpaced both savings and economic growth. These inflationary pressures have been concentrated in asset prices, not consumer price inflation--keeping monetary policy too easy. This increase in asset prices has fueled domestic borrowing and spending.

* Government policy and the increase in securitization are largely responsible for this bubble.. . .The Long Term Capital Management hedge fund is a prime example. New companies start and others fail every day. What is troubling with the hedge fund bailout was the governmental response and the increase in moral hazard.

* This increased indication of the government's eagerness to bail out highly-leveraged, risky and largely unregulated financial institutions bodes ill for the post S. 900 future as far as limiting taxpayer liability is concerned. LTCM isn't even registered in the United States but the Cayman Islands!


It's funny -- I had forgotten all about the bailout of LTCM back in the late 90s, and that was back when government-engineered bailouts of financial industry heavyweights was a comparatively rare occurrence.

UPDATE: Here's the original text from Paul's floor speech.