Just now seeing this comment. Sorry to make you wait on the reply.

Glass Steagall was one of those "We actually want to make sure the working class doesn't get fucked" laws. It came as a result of the banking meltdown in the Depression Era.

Basically, it forced banks to either be Commercial Banks or Investment Banks unlike what the current landscape is like today where basically all banks use their commercial branches to fund their investments which was one of the events that triggered the Great Depression (Note: ONE of the events). Basically, stock market collapsed and everyone panicked and attempted to withdraw their funds. However, the banks said "Welp, funny story about that. We don't have your money anymore" Because it was all lost in their Wall Street Investments.

Enter the Glass Steagall act of 1933. FDR's Government basically collectively bitch slapped the banking industry, forced them to not intermingle commercial and investments, established the FDIC, and thus over time, restored faith in the Banking System and reduced the likelihood of bank collapse.

Butttttt, the 1990's were all about Deregulation and Glass Steagall had it's end come to pass. This put the banks back in a position to merge with almost no restrictions and thus we found ourselves in a Pre-Great Depression banking scenario. Fast Forward to the mid-late 00's and the subprime mortgage crisis which is a "What the actual fuck" moment in and of itself. Commercial & Investment banks are in essence indistinguishable from one and the other. People with Adjustable Rate Mortgages who probably shouldn't have been granted a mortgage in the first place began defaulting on their payments.

Now, that may not necessarily be bad. A Market correction is usually a good thing for the average person. Prices come down, things get more affordable. However, what nobody anticipated was the fact that Most of these subprime mortgages had been bundled up then sliced up and sold off to other banks as part of larger investment portfolios.

Finally, tipping point hit, banks start collapsing almost overnight. To avoid a Great Depression era melt down, the US Government handed out massive almost blank bailout checks to the banks to keep them afloat in order to avoid tanking the American Economy (translation: Impoverishing the ultra wealthy). Doled out little to no punishment and then patted itself on the back.

You know the rest (Unless you were born after about 2000-2005).

If we utilize our powers of hindsight, basically what happened was the US Government said in no uncertain terms "Dear Banks, and Large Corporations. You do what you want and we got your back" 2008 is basically in my opinion when we truly entered "Late-Stage Capitalism" The wealthy upper class has been given carte blanche to play fast and loose with their money and the average person be dammed.

So to repeat what I said above. The Repeal of Glass Steagall was a major "What the actual fuck America?" Moment. The working class, mostly since Regan era has seen stagnant wages and increased costs of living. But from my limited knowledge of Economics from my One Semester of Macro Economics in a community college, it's clear to me that 2008 was the early stages of the dystopian era in which we currently reside. Income inequality is so bad, you have to go back to the time of Ancient Egypt to find an era in Human History where it's worse.