G20 must assume historical responsibility

The daily Le Temps would like to see Europeans take to heart the lessons of the past at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh: "The central problem is getting worse: ... the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers almost a year ago set in motion a shift towards consolidation that has produced bigger and more independent banks. The series of bank rescue operations aimed at keeping the financial world going has made a fiction of the bankruptcy. History gives us clues for how to reform the financial system. Why not do what was done in 1933 when the United States banned a number of bank activities deemed responsible for causing the crisis, … bank activities which were allowed again in 1999? The banks, profitable and powerful once more, are digging in their heels against any type of far-reaching reform. … The G20 must prove their courage at their next summit at the end of September and assume their 'historical' responsibility."

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