The decisions that politicans make in the past are the only prediction of what they will actually do in the future. Not their campaign promises.
Bernie Sanders led the fight against repealing the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. Hillary Clinton supported that repeal, which in fact was pushed by Bill Clinton, occurred during the Clintons' watch, and was led by Clinton's Treasury Secretary, Bob Robin, former CEO of Goldman Sachs (in cahoots with Sandy Weil, CEO of Citigroup). Rubin's revolving door led back to Citibank (what a surprise!) when he left government, where he got a signing bonus in the tens of millions of dollars, an annual salary of $15 million, and left with $125 million dollars (even after giving some back). To this day, employees from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are the #1 and #2 biggest donors to Hillary Clinton.
Paul Krugman weighed in on this historical decision, and concludes that Bernie Sanders was right in opposing Glass-Steagall. From Krugman's NYT op-ed column, today:
Democrats, Republicans and Wall Street Tycoons
Oct. 16, 2015
by Paul Krugman
Mr. Sanders has been focused on restoring Glass-Steagall, the rule that separated deposit-taking banks from riskier wheeling and dealing. And repealing Glass-Steagall was indeed a mistake. ...[S]o far, Mr. Sanders hasn’t [laid out his plan, beyond what is on his website, in hundreds of speeches, and in various legislation he has proposed].
But is Mrs. Clinton’s promise to take a tough line on the financial industry credible? Or would she, once in the White House, return to the finance-friendly, deregulatory policies of the 1990s? ...
Many liberals feel that the Obama administration was far too lenient on the financial industry in the aftermath of the crisis. ... Yet nobody went to jail, and the big banks weren’t broken up. ... But with great wealth comes great pettiness: These are men accustomed to obsequious deference, and they took even mild comments about bad behavior by some of their number as an unforgivable insult. ...
If a Democrat does win, does it matter much which one it is? [Hillary or Bernie?] Probably not. Any Democrat is likely to retain the financial reforms of 2010, and seek to stiffen them where possible. But major new reforms will be blocked until and unless Democrats regain control of both houses of Congress...
Bringing about a consensus among the American public to reform Wall Street, and to win a majority of support for this in Congress, is going to required a transformation in American politics and a cleansing of the Aegean Stables in the Democratic Party. Those politicians who came in on Wall Street money need to be flushed out. Which leading Democratic candidate took the most money from Wall Street?
Top 10 donors of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders (verified by Politifact).
Clinton’s top 10 cumulative donors between between 1999 and 2016 were, in descending order, members of:
Citigroup ($782,327),
Goldman Sachs ($711,490), DLA Piper ($628,030),
JPMorgan Chase ($620,919), EMILY’s List ($605,174)
Morgan Stanley ($543,065),
Time Warner ($411,296, owner of CNN), Skadden Arps ($406,640),
Lehman Brothers ($362,853, wtf) and Cablevision Systems ($336,288, net-neutrality much?).
Sander's top 10 cumulative donors were, in descending order, members of: Machinists/Aerospace Workers union ($105,000), Teamsters union ($93,700), National Education Association ($84,350), United Auto Workers ($79,650), United Food & Commercial Workers union ($72,500), Communications Workers of America ($68,000), Laborers Union ($64,000), Carpenters & Joiners Union ($62,000), National Association of Letter Carriers ($61,000), and the American Association for Justice ($60,500).
Bankers, billion-dollar law firms, and Big Media; or workers, teachers, carpenters, and justice: choose who you want to fund your representative in the White House.
Although Sanders has not yet fully laid out his plan for reforming banks and Wall Street, there is considerable evidence of the directions he will go in, e.g. from his website:
Reforming Wall Street: https://berniesanders.com/...
Getting Big Money out of Politics: https://berniesanders.com/...
Income and Wealth Inequality: https://berniesanders.com/...
Repealing Glass-Steagall was not the sole cause of the 2008 financial collapse, but it was part of it and important in its own right. It is part of the bigger context of too much political power by Wall Street, and a lack of regulatory oversight with teeth.
The difference is also clear in the different advisers the candidates would listen to if elected. E.g., Elizabeth Warren for Bernie, versus one of Hillary's top economics advisors, Alan Blinder (read up on the latter, if you haven't already).