Italian MPs and Professors Send Endorsement to U.S. Senators for New Glass-Steagall Bill
Members of the Italian Parliament and professors of economics in Italy sent messages of support today to the U.S. Senators who have sponsored the Glass-Steagall bill.
The following mail message was sent by Antonio Maria Rinaldi (President, Riscossa Italiana, and Professor of Business Administration at Pescara University); Stefano Fassina (Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and former Deputy Finance Minister in the Renzi government); Antonino Galloni (Economist, Auditor at Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale); Claudio Celani (Vice President, Movimento Internazionale per i Diritti Civili—Solidarietà [movisol]):
“We are following with great interest your initiative to reintroduce the Glass-Steagall Bill in the U.S. Senate. We are happy that this has become a major issue in the American political debate. Your action will inspire our fight in Italy, where several draft bills on Glass-Steagall have been introduced in both houses of Parliament.
“Separating commercial banks from investment banks is the key to relieve the world economy from the burden of unpayable speculative debt. The Greek crisis has shown that it is not a problem of Greece, but of Too-Big-to-Fail banks. The EU bailout money did not go to the Greek population, but was used to bail out international banks with the largest exposure in derivatives. At the same time, the Greek population has been reduced to poverty. Oppressing the population to save speculative banks is immoral and economically unsound.
“Without Glass-Steagall, there cannot be any solution. Greece cannot defeat the speculative bubble and this unjust economic system all alone.
“We therefore thank you for your courage in challenging Wall Street, and trust that your action will be successful.”
Another message was sent by Sen. Giuseppe Vacciano, independent, author of one of the several Glass-Steagall bills currently filed in the Italian Senate:
“The undersigned, Giuseppe Vacciano, member of the Italian Senate, authorizes herewith the publication of his signature to the text above, in support of the American members of Senate who introduced a bill to reinstate Glass-Steagall.”
In addition to Friday’s letters to the U.S. Senate, other messages of support for Glass Steagall, from Italy and elsewhere in Europe, have come into the U.S. Congress in July.
On July 15, Sen. Stefano Candiani, Member of the Italian Senate, wrote to Sen. Maria Cantwell, “The Italian Senate is following with great interest the debate initiated in the United States by your bill….Greece cannot defeat the speculative bubble and this unjust economic system all alone. The European conference on debt held in London in 1953, which cut the German debt by half, took place while Glass-Steagall was still law. Only by reinstating it, will it be possible to cancel the speculative debt of Greece, mainly the derivatives exposure of Deutsche Bank, which cannot be repaid and should not be repaid.
“We therefore thank you for your courage in challenging Wall Street…”
On July 15, a support letter was sent to Rep. Marcie Kaptur, by two signators in Italy: Liliana Gorinia, Chairwoman of MoviSol, from Milan; and Alfonso Gianni, Director of Cercare Ancora Foundation in Rome, former Undersecretary to the Development Ministry. They said that, “Your bill inspired similar bills introduced to the Italian Parliament last year, but are yet to be discussed….The Greek referendum shows that 61% of the population wants to put an end to the austerity policy of the Troika, and go for a new credit system, which will only be possible with Glass-Steagall…”
They ended their message, we “trust that your debate will bring hope also to Europe, which is otherwise betraying its own values and its culture in denying debt relief for Greece. Knock on wood!”
Leave a Reply