Changes

Source: [http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/nec/html/sperling.html Profile: Gene B. Sperling], ''FirstGov'' (Clinton).

Sperling also served as a principal negotiator with then-Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers in finalizing the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Gramm-Leach-Bliley repealed large portions of the depression-era Glass-Steegal Act allowing banks, securities firms and insurance companies to merge. <ref>National Economic Council [http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/nec/html/sperling.html Profile of Gene Sperling]</ref>

President Barack Obama believes that the repeal of these depression-era protections helped cause the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis.<ref>[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123665023774979341.html Wall Street Journal, Ten Questions for Those Fixing the Financial Mess], March 10, 2009. </ref>

Together with United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, Mr. Sperling successfully negotiated and concluded the China-WTO agreement in Beijing in 1999, paving the way for China to enter the World Trade Organization in 2001. <ref>National Economic Council [ http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/nec/html/sperling.html Profile of Gene Sperling]</ref> The Economic Policy Institute estimates that 2.4 million U.S. jobs have been lost to China since 2001.<ref>[http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/china-job-loss Unfair China Trade Costs Local Jobs], Economic Policy Institute, March 2010. </ref>