From the FDIC web site. (hat tip to Obseedian of MarketTickerForum. Nice catch thanks. The whole section is worth reading.)
"National City Company repackages bad Latin American loans from its affiliated bank and sells them to unknowing investors as new securities.
This is one of the deals that initiate the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933."
FDIC: Banks in the Roaring 20's
By way of reminder, the banks will be trotting the VISA IPO out the door tonight and tomorrow.
Every empire in its official discourse has said it is not like the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest 'mission civilisatrice.' Edward W. Said