MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SCHULTZ: Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota was one of eight in the Senate back in 1999 who voted against the deregulation. Let me bring in the senator.

Senator, great to have you with us tonight. And I know you've got another plan that is going to fix this mess.

It was 10 years ago that you stood up on the Senate floor and said, this isn't good, this could lead to a catastrophe, and that's exactly what happened. And the market is doing pretty well right now. Some of the money's been paid back, but Main Street has been left behind.

Senator, where do we go right now? What do you think?

SEN. BYRON DORGAN (D), NORTH DAKOTA: Well, Ed, first of all, I think the stock market is ahead of the economy, for sure. I mean, you know, we've got a long way to go to recover here. But it's very important for us to understand and to learn this lesson.

We need to make sure when we do financial reform that too big to fail means too big. And if they're too big to fail, we need to break up some of these firms, number one.

Number two, I think the chairman of the Fed is just dead wrong. We need to separate FDIC-insured banks from the investment banks. Separate them.

And finally, we need to make sure that FDIC-insured banks are not trading these exotic financial instruments on their own proprietary account, which they are now doing. They'd just as well put a craps table in their lobby. It's just gambling. So those are the things we have to do.

SCHULTZ: Senator, you're saying that Ben Bernanke is wrong. The White House follows his lead, so does the Treasury Department. It's like they're walking in lockstep here.

What exactly do you think should be done from a legislative standpoint to protect the American taxpayers that we don't go down this road again? Because I don't think we can go through this again and still maintain the financial system that we have in this country.

DORGAN: You know, I heard this same sort of thing 10 years ago from some of the same people-you've got to make all these changes in the name of modernization, allow investment banks and FDIC-insured banks to coexist in the same company. Just dead wrong. It was then, it is now, and I think we have to be aggressive.

We have to decide, you know what? When it costs you trillions and trillions of dollars to save the economy, and the big financial interests are driving it right into the ditch, make sure that you do things that will prevent it from happening again. Too big to fail-too big to fail means you're too big and we have to take action to address that.

SCHULTZ: And Senator, just reinstating Glass-Steagall, in your opinion, would that do it?

DORGAN: Well, the issue there is separating the commercial banks from the investment banks. That's what Glass-Steagall allowed to happen, to bring them together, and that turned out to be a catastrophe. So, let's go back and revisit that and do it right this time so that we don't get into this situation again.

This is the most expensive lesson in history. And by the way, there's never been a narrative done with the real investigation to find out who's accountable, who's going to be held accountable? In the old days when they robbed banks they wore bandannas. These days, they wear some gray suits. And some of those folks that were accountable made off with hundreds of millions of dollars.

SCHULTZ: Senator Dorgan, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks for speaking up.

DORGAN: Thanks, Ed.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source