John Dingell Is a Dinosaur. John Dingell Was Right.

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the longest-serving member of the House, may be a dinosaur but he sure sounds prophetic in his 1999 floor speech opposing the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley bank deregulation bill:

"I just want to remind my colleagues what happened the last time the committee on banking brought a bill on the floor which deregulated the savings and loans. It wound up imposing upon the taxpayers of this nation about a $500 billion liability," Dingell said. "Having said that, what we are creating now is a group of institutions which are too big too fail. Not only are they going to be big banks, but they are going to be big everything."

Dingell warned in that 1999 speech that one day the bill will come due.

"Taxpayers are going to be called upon to cure the failures we are creating tonight and it is going to cost a lot of money, and it is coming. Just be prepared for those events," he said.

Someone should go back and see if any Members of Congress voted for Gramm-Leach-Bliley in 1999 but against the bailout in 2008. That's the indefensible position based purely on ideology and not responsibility. ("This is guaranteed to work. And if it doesn't, I won't lift a finger to help.")