Editing Phil Gramm (section)

====2007 mortgage and 2008 financial and economic crises====
{{See also|Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act#Criticisms}}
Some economists state that the 1999 legislation spearheaded by Gramm and signed into law by President Clinton—the [[Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act]]—was significantly to blame for the 2007 [[subprime mortgage crisis]] and 2008 global economic crisis.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ekelund|first1=Robert|last2=Thornton|first2=Mark|publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute|url=https://mises.org/story/3098|title=More Awful Truths About Republicans|date=2008-09-04|access-date=2008-09-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Lerer|first=Lisa|date=2008-03-28|title=McCain guru linked to subprime crisis|url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9246.html|access-date=2009-08-09|work=[[Politico]]}}</ref> The Act is most widely known for repealing portions of the [[Glass–Steagall Act]], which had regulated the financial services industry.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Taibbi|first=Matt|date=2009-03-19|title=The Big Takeover|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322115528/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/1|archive-date=2009-03-22|access-date=2021-05-03|website=rollingstone.com}}</ref> The Act passed the House and Senate by an overwhelming majority on November 4, 1999.<ref>Congressional roll-call: [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll570.xml On the passage of S.900: Financial Services Act of 1999, Record Vote No: 570], November 4, 1999, Clerk of the U.S. House. Sortable unofficial table: [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/106/house/1/votes/570/ On Agreeing to the Conference Report, S. 900 Financial Services Modernization Act, roll call 570, 106th Congress, 1st session] Votes Database at ''[[The Washington Post]]''. Retrieved October 9, 2008</ref><ref>Congressional roll-call: [https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00354 S.900 as reported by conferees: Financial Services Act of 1999, Record Vote No: 354], November 4, 1999, Clerk of the Senate. Sortable unofficial table: [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/106/senate/1/votes/354/ On Agreeing to the Conference Report, S.900 Gramm-Bliley-Leach Act, roll call 354, 106th Congress, 1st session] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803061353/http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/106/senate/1/votes/354/ |date=August 3, 2015 }} Votes Database at ''[[The Washington Post]]''. Retrieved October 9, 2008</ref>

Gramm responded in March 2008 to criticism of the act by stating that he saw "no evidence whatsoever" that the sub-prime mortgage crisis was caused in any way "by allowing banks and securities companies and insurance companies to compete against each other".<ref>{{cite web|last=Pethokoukis|first=James|date=2008-03-31|title=Phil Gramm: I Didn't Cause the Subprime Crisis|url=https://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/3/31/phil-gramm-i-didnt-cause-the-subprime-crisis.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418193351/http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/3/31/phil-gramm-i-didnt-cause-the-subprime-crisis.html|archive-date=April 18, 2009|access-date=2009-08-09|work=[[U.S. News & World Report]]}}</ref>

Gramm's support was later critical in the passage of the [[Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000]], which kept derivatives transactions, including those involving [[credit default swap]]s, free of government regulation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403343.html |title=What Went Wrong |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2008-10-15|access-date=2009-08-09 |first1=Anthony |last1=Faiola |first2=Ellen |last2=Nakashima |first3=Jill |last3=Drew}}</ref>

In its 2008 coverage of the financial crisis, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' named Gramm one of seven "Key Players In the Battle Over Regulating Derivatives", for having "pushed through several major bills to deregulate the banking and investment industries, including the 1999 Gramm–Leach–Bliley act that brought down the walls separating the commercial banking, investment and insurance industries".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/risk/players.html |title=The Crash: Risk and Regulation |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=2009-08-09}}</ref>

2008 [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Nobel Laureate]] in Economics [[Paul Krugman]], a supporter of [[Barack Obama]] and former President [[Bill Clinton]], described Gramm during the 2008 presidential race as "the high priest of deregulation," and has listed him as the number two person responsible for the [[Great Recession]] behind only [[Alan Greenspan]].<ref>{{YouTube|YwqcLbZJ4HA|MSNBC interview}} of Paul Krugman by [[David Gregory (journalist)|David Gregory]], September 2008</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-lZcKkKbLM&NR=1|url-status=dead|title=Broadcast Yourself|publisher=YouTube|access-date=2009-08-09|archive-date=July 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727035309/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-lZcKkKbLM&NR=1}}</ref> On October 14, 2008, [[CNN]] ranked Gramm number seven in its list of the 10 individuals most responsible for the current economic crisis.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/14/culprits-of-the-collapse-7-phil-gramm/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017032803/http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/14/culprits-of-the-collapse-7-phil-gramm/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 17, 2008 |title=Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive – Culprits of the Collapse – No. 7 Phil Gramm |publisher=CNN |date=October 14, 2008 |access-date=2009-08-09}}</ref>

In January 2009 [[The Guardian|''Guardian'']] City editor [[Julia Finch]] identified Gramm as one of twenty-five people who were at the heart of the financial meltdown.<ref>{{cite news|author=Finch|first1=Julia|last2=Clark|first2=Andrew|last3=Teather|first3=David|date=2009-01-26|title=Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown|work=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/jan/26/road-ruin-recession-individuals-economy|access-date=2009-08-09}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' included Gramm in its list of the top 25 people to blame for the economic crisis.<ref>{{cite news|date=2007-08-27|title=Internet poll: 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html|url-status=dead|access-date=2009-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218154041/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html|archive-date=2009-02-18}}</ref>