Both parties fueled crash

Ed Terhaar’s June 27 letter says the policies of President George W. Bush and his Republican Congress “engineered” the 2008 recession. Blame for that recession belongs to both major political parties.

In the late 1990s, U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and his Republican allies pushed for repeal of banking regulations approved in the 1930s after the Crash of 1929. These regulations separated commercial banking from investment banking. They were designed to protect our country from Wall Street greed.

President Bill Clinton and his Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, strongly supported Gramm’s efforts (Rubin was rewarded with a multimillion dollar job with Citigroup). Too many Democrats in Congress, including Sen. Patty Murray, also supported this deregulation, which enabled Wall Street to play the same games that led to the 1929 Crash and Great Depression. The result was the 2008 recession that hurt many Americans.

While it is in Republican DNA to support big banks at the expense of the common man, Democrats turned their backs on their obligation to support regulations that protect all of us. We must never forget that senators and representatives of both major political parties are responsible for the suffering endured by millions of Americans thanks to the 2008 recession.

Duwane Huffaker

Spokane