What happens when Democrats abandon their legacy

Do you remember the New York Times story The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age?  Only last July,  billionaires denounced any increase in taxes, and praised the deregulation they had gotten the Democrats and Republicans to approve.  The greatest of them all was Citigroup's Sanford Weill:

His achievement required political clout, and that, too, is on display. Soon after he formed Citigroup, Congress repealed a Depression-era law that prohibited goliaths like the one Mr. Weill had just put together anyway, combining commercial and investment banking, insurance and stock brokerage operations. A trophy from the victory — a pen that President Bill Clinton used to sign the repeal — hangs, framed, near the magazine covers.

"People can look at the last 25 years and say this is an incredibly unique period of time," Mr. Weill said. "We didn’t rely on somebody else to build what we built, and we shouldn’t rely on somebody else to provide all the services our society needs."

How it all turned out on the flip

The hard-won experience that led to "Depression-era" regulations:  dismissed.  The progressive income tax: an unfair treatment of the self-styled geniuses.  Government:  Something that gets in way of their charity.    

Mr. Weill’s vision was to create a financial institution in the style of those that flourished in the last Gilded Age. Although insurance is gone, Citigroup still houses commercial and investment banking and stock brokerage.

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 outlawed the mix, blaming conflicts of interest inherent in such a combination for helping to bring on the 1929 crash and the Depression. The pen displayed in Mr. Weill’s hallway is one of those Mr. Clinton used to revoke Glass-Steagall in 1999. He did so partly to accommodate the newly formed Citigroup, whose heft was necessary, Mr. Weill said, if the United States was to be a powerhouse in global financial markets.

Ah, the patriotism of billionaires.  He did it for the United States.  Of course, the genius has to get his cut:

"I think that the results our company had, which is where the great majority of my wealth came from, justified what I got," Mr. Weill said.

How it worked out:  

It may shock President Clinton and his billionaire friends, but oddly enough it seems Franklin Roosevelt may have been on to something.  The powerhouse is collapsing, bringing down the entire stock market and contributing to foreclosures around the county.  Citigroup Chief Is Set to Exit Amid Losses:

Mr. Prince’s departure would be a crushing blow to the legacy of Citigroup’s founder and former chairman, Sanford I. Weill, and will lead to renewed calls to break up the company.

Not only was Mr. Prince Mr. Weill’s hand-picked successor, he was his chief lawyer who helped engineer a series of big deals that transformed Citigroup into a sprawling banking giant.

A crushing blow?  Well, Mr. Weill will still be a billionaire.  And his heirs.