In the tumultuous aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929, the United States government took drastic measures to prevent a repeat of the devastating economic crisis. The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, a landmark piece of legislation, aimed to separate investment banking from commercial banking, thus curbing the excessive risk-taking that led to the financial meltdown. However, as time passed, deregulation efforts, coupled with the rise of global financial markets, gradually eroded the protections put in place by Glass-Steagall. This paved the way for the concentration of power and influence on Wall Street, setting the stage for the financial crisis of 2008, a crisis that once again exposed the fragility of an unbridled financial system.
