Two decades ago, Donald Langevoort, now a law professor at Georgetown, showed that major bankers – indeed, the leaders of First National City, the predecessor to Weill’s Citibank – proposed Glass-Steagall in lieu of deposit insurance. No big bank was at risk from trading securities then, but the big banks’ investment-banking affiliates were not making money trading and underwriting securities during the Depression, so the banks were willing to surrender that part of their business.
二十年前，如今已成为乔治敦大学法学教授的唐纳德·兰芝福尔特（Donald Langevoort）指出，大银行家——事实上，正是维尔的花旗银行的前身第一国民城市银行的领导人——正是格拉斯-斯蒂格尔法案的始作俑者，他们试图用它来代替存款保险。当时，没有一家大银行因证券交易而承受着风险，相反，大银行的投资银行部门所从事的证券交易和承销业务在大萧条期间根本无利可图，因此大银行十分乐于牺牲掉这部分业务。讽刺之处在于国会接受了大银行的动议，对商业银行和投资银行实行了分业，但随后还是出台了存款保险。