From a review on the front of today's Times arts section by Times critic Dwight Garner of the book A Colossal Wreck, by Alexander Cockburn:
Mr. Cockburn was prescient. He saw Wall Street's 2008 collapse coming from a mile away, with the overturning in 1995 of the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial and investment banking.
From a May 21, 2012 column by Times Dealbook editor Andrew Ross Sorkin:
A meme around Glass-Steagall has been created, repeated so often that it has almost become conventional wisdom: the repeal of Glass-Steagall led to the financial crisis of 2008. And, the thinking goes, has become almost religious for some people, that if the law were reinstated, we would avoid the next crisis.
The facts — basic facts — just aren't that convenient. ..Here's the key: Glass-Steagall wouldn't have prevented the last financial crisis.