People should know Citigroup's history

After reading the "Why rescue Citigroup?" story on the front page of the Nov. 26 Business section, it was a bit disconcerting to me that a very salient issue regarding Citigroup's role in our current economic crisis was ignored.

In 1933, the U.S. government put the Glass-Steagall act into law. This law drew a very definite line between commercial and investment banking and was enacted to prevent the kind of contagion experienced in the Great Depression. Citigroup was a major player in a $300 million lobbying effort to have Glass-Steagall repealed. In 1999, President Clinton and Congress succumbed. Now instead of the housing bust simply affecting commercial banks, it's been allowed to spread throughout our entire financial system.

I understand the need to bailout our major financial institutions but let's at least publicize their complicity in this debacle. The people bailing them out deserve to know.

Dan Angerame

Arlington Heights