Ten years ago, a Republican-led Congress and a Democratic White House rolled out the red carpet for a new age of global, "full service," too-big-to-fail financial institutions. The move repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, a set of reforms responsible for the longest crisis-free period in U.S. financial history.

As Washington debates the best way to prevent future crises, it is helpful to understand how public policy helped bring about the current one.

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