The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission will finally hold its first hearings Jan. 13 and 14. Congress appointed the bi-partisan Commission in July and why anyone is claiming that it is going to be anything like the Pecora Commission is 'delusional at best.'
The 10-member panel has been meeting with administration officials including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro probably so they can all 'get their stories straight,' and hopefully follow the carefully laid out 'scripts' being pre-written for the various parties involved.
Basically this is nothing more than a rubber stamp 'fake commission' that will cost tax payers $8 million dollars, with Banking industry testimony that will be followed by analysis from academics and others after all is said and done. In other words: I'm willing to say here and now I will personally 'eat' an old pair of Cheney's underwear if anyone ends up going to jail or being prosecuted under this new 'Commission.'
Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The chief executive officers of JP Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Morgan Stanley will headline the inaugural hearing of a congressional panel investigating Wall Street’s financial crisis.
JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein, and Morgan Stanley’s John Mack will testify next month in Washington, Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Chairman Phil Angelides said in a telephone interview yesterday. Bank of America Corp.’s incoming CEO, Brian Moynihan, has been invited and is expected to appear as well, Angelides said.
"There’s no question that these institutions were at the center of this storm, not to make any prejudgments about their role in it," Angelides said. He called the witnesses "key leaders who have been involved in the financial crisis."
The Angelides Commission (wink wink, nudge nudge) has been compared to the Pecora Commission that in 1933 and 1934 investigated the Wall Street crash of a few years before. The Pecora Commission's inquiry led to passage of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act and the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It's also instructed to examine the causes of the collapse of every major financial institution that failed from August 2007 to April 2009, as well as those that survived with taxpayers' help. That means Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros. and AIG, but arguably Citigroup or Bank of America -- any bank that took a bailout. The commission must submit its report by Dec. 15, 2010.
The panel's most important model is the Pecora inquiry, named after Ferdinand Pecora, who as chief counsel of the Senate Banking Committee in 1933-34 held Wall Street -- indeed, the nation's entire financial aristocracy -- to account for the crash of 1929. Angelides also mentions the 9/11 Commission, which issued its report in 2004. The lesson of both is that inquiries on this scale are inevitably fraught with partisanship and ideology, and replete with sacred cows and gored oxen -- but that they can serve a lasting purpose.
Pecora's principal target was the Morgan bank. He exposed the bank -- then considered such a paragon of rectitude that the IRS never bothered to audit its tax returns -- as a hive of underhanded maneuvering. Not a single one of its 20 partners, he showed, had paid a dime of income tax in 1931 or 1932 despite earning millions from stock underwriting. In the run-up to Morgan's appearance, the banker had underestimated Pecora, calling him a "second-rate criminal lawyer" and "dirty little" Italian. Even on his way to the Capitol, Morgan's chauffeur assured the tycoon that he wouldn't stoop to losing his temper "with the likes of them." But his self-assurance couldn't save him from the embarrassing disclosures that ensued. He left Washington with a tarnished name and front-page notoriety. And Pecora returned to the hearings, bent on bringing down more bankers--and reshaping the financial system.
http://articles.latimes.com/...
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada each made three appointments, while House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky each made two appointments:
* Phil Angelides (chairman) - Pelosi (jointly chosen as chair by Pelosi and Reid)
* Bill Thomas (vice chairman) - Boehner (jointly chosen as vice chair by Boehner and McConnell)
* Brooksley Born (Pelosi)
* Byron Georgiou (Reid)
* Bob Graham (Reid)
* Keith Hennessey (McConnell)
* Douglas Holtz-Eakin (McConnell)
* Heather Murren (Reid)
* John W. Thompson (Pelosi)
* Peter Wallison (Boehner)
Prior to this Commission being formed, a group of financial experts in the private and public sector pleaded with Congress to conduct an open and honest investigation, including the idea of appointing a single investigator, that should be an individual that must have a proven record of exposing fraudulent elites and institutions, and must provide a professional, non-political spirit to the investigation.
But of course, that is not what has occurred and instead we are getting a group of mostly insiders, but thank god they got Brooksley Born in the line up. Below is the letter written by the group: WhatCausedTheCrisis.com
"Legal chicanery and pitch darkness were the banker's stoutest allies."
- from Wall Street Under Oath, 1936, the memoir of Ferdinand Pecora
In 1933, Ferdinand Pecora - lead counsel for the Senate Banking and Currency Committee inquiry - led an investigation into the causes of economic collapse that preceded the Great Depression. His unrelenting investigation provided the evidentiary basis for legislation that restored market integrity and rebuilt public confidence in the financial markets and the banking system. For 45 years - until many of the New Deal protections were removed by de-regulation and insufficient supervision - these laws formed the basis of an economic structure that created prosperity and withstood crisis.
By taking lessons from the original commission in its design and execution, the recently established Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) can ensure that it provides the insights necessary to understand what caused the crisis and, in so doing, to protect the nation from future collapses.
Please join us in signing this letter that encourages the new "Pecora" Commission to pursue rigorously the truth.
Dear Members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission,
In this moment of great economic turmoil, there is a simple but critical question that we must ask and answer together as a nation:
What caused the crisis?
We, the undersigned, call on you to fulfill the responsibilities of your position by joining together in non-partisan cooperation to investigate the origins of the financial crisis in ways that lead to a full understanding of the institutions, people and practices that are responsible for our economic collapse.
In particular, we encourage the adoption of three guidelines that history has taught us are essential to an effective inquiry:
* Appoint a single investigator. This individual must have a proven record of exposing fraudulent elites and institutions, and must provide a professional, non-political spirit to the investigation.
* Afford no special treatment. No one is off-limits or gets special protection in the investigation.
* Provide the tools to do the job. The investigator must be given ample budget and time, full subpoena authority, and the ability to hire and fire staff.
These principles were applied in the 1930s when Congress launched a formal inquiry into the causes of the Great Depression. That commission - led by Ferdinand Pecora - was willing to reach into the highest levels of Wall Street and finance to determine the causes of the economic collapse of 1929. The courage with which the commission greeted its task - and the revelations that courage ensured - inspired the sweeping banking and financial reforms that were the bedrock of our financial system for decades.
Building a new financial foundation requires us to begin on solid ground - the truth. It is only by illuminating the mistakes of the past that we will be able to meet the great challenges of the future.
Thank you for your consideration, and for your willingness to take on this historic challenge.
Signed,
Dr. Andrew Rich
Roosevelt Institute
*
Dr. Joseph Stiglitz
Economist, Roosevelt Institute
*
Dr. Thomas Ferguson
University of Massachusetts, Boston
*
Christopher Hayes
New America Foundation
*
Dr. Robert Johnson
Economist, Roosevelt Institute
*
Dr. David Woolner
Historian, Roosevelt Institute
*
Dr. William Black
University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law
*
Dr. Robert Reich
University of California at Berkeley
*
Dr. James K. Galbraith
University of Texas
*
Dr. Randall B. Woods
University of Arkansas
*
Rev. Marcia Dyson
Georgetown University
*
Rudy Arredondo
National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association
*
Meizhu Lui
Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative
*
Dr. Barbara M. Parramore
Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University
*
James P. Hoffa
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
*
Hamilton Fish
The Nation Institute
*
Mario Seccareccia
University of Ottawa
*
Dean Baker
Beat the Press
*
Geoff Ward
Florentine Films
*
Eric Rauchway
UC Davis
*
William E. Leuchtenburg
UNC
*
Bo Cutter
The Roosevelt Institute
*
Howard Gardner
Harvard, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education
The fact that the idea of an 'single investigator' was completely ignored by our Congress, tells me that this might just be another 'set up' that brought us other reports such as the Warren Commission and the 9/11 Commission literally not worth the paper they were written on. But hey, I could be wrong, and frankly, I hope that I am wrong.
Now, if this Commission had chosen William K. Black as the primary Investigator, I would be much more confident in the 'opportunity' that any honest and truthful investigation would take place, and that true accountability might have had a much better change to being with.
The so called 'hearings' will finish up sometimes in September, and the final report will not even be done until December 2010.
An honest investigation--like the Pecora hearings that famously revealed the truth of what caused the Great Depression--could splash embarrassment on both political parties and turn up shocking evidence of the political collusion between Washington and Wall Street. But can we really expect such a truth-telling creature to emerge from Congress? Maybe we can. The appointment of Angelides is a very promising start because of his record as an aggressive reformer on issues like corporate governance, social equity and environmental reform. The danger is that the Angelides commission will be paralyzed by the usual hard-nosed tactics of Washington partisans.
Angelides was named by Democratic Congressional leaders, but Republicans picked four of the ten commission members and chose a relentless partisan as the vice chair--former Representative Bill Thomas. Thomas was Ways and Means chairman in the Bush years, well-known for his intellectual brilliance and his take-no-prisoners legislative tactics. Angelides must get Thomas's consent on staff appointments, particularly the crucial job of chief investigator. Issuing subpoenas will require support from at least one of the Republicans. "I talked with Bill Thomas," Angelides said. "His view is our job is tell the truth. Let's surprise people."
Angelides is hopeful the commission will surprise skeptics--if it sticks to the task of digging out the facts. "Given the extent of harm that has been done to so many people and the damage done to our system, my hope is that people will rise to the occasion and do the right thing," he told me. "Probably, there's a lot of nervousness out there as to what rocks might be turned over, because there will be Democrats who will be nervous about those facts too. We have to dig deep and get to the root causes, and we have to do this in a way that's understandable."
Story by: William Greider
http://www.thenation.com/...
But, I mean, let's get real here ok? This is what the Pecora Commission did:
As Pecora prepared for his first hearing, the economy took a new plunge. A run on the banks led to a wave of closures. This crisis put renewed pressure on the committee to deliver. Pecora immediately delved into the country's second-largest bank, National City Bank, which was one of the most notorious for promoting new, risky securities. Though senators were involved in the questioning, it was their new counsel who had done the research, scoured the documents, and knew just how to force the bankers to yield their secrets. Among them was that National City Bank gave cash bonuses to traders who sold the most stocks and bonds, particularly the riskiest ones that it wanted to dispose of the fastest. Just six days after Pecora launched his new round of the investigation, both the bank's chairman and president resigned under pressure from an angry press, the committee, and even the incoming president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
It was Pecora's first victory, and there were more to come. The most notable was that by the investigation's close in June 1934, the hearings had yielded a trifecta of legislation--the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, Securities Act of 1933, and Securities Exchange Act of 1934--that dramatically reshaped the American financial system. The Glass-Steagall Act alone created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which guaranteed consumers' deposits in banks, gave the Federal Reserve greater oversight over banks, and separated banks from insurance companies and investment firms. Some economists have even charged that the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall helped bring about the current crisis.
Pecora, who gained such prominence that the probe is now referred to as the "Pecora hearings," was the perfect man for the job. He had a nearly photographic memory, allowing him to recall every word of testimony; a sharp intellect (he graduated from the New York public school system at age 13); and a tireless work ethic. And, having emigrated from Sicily to an Irish neighborhood in New York at the age of 5, he had developed the kind of outsider's resolve that made him impervious to intimidation. In his 12 years as assistant district attorney of New York County, Pecora oversaw more than 1,000 cases and boasted an 80 percent conviction rate. One investigation led to the closing of more than 150 "bucket shop" operators, or fraudulent brokerage houses, in New York City. "What he didn't have was the experience going after the lords of finance and the people that everyone was deferential to," says Donald Ritchie, an associate Senate historian who wrote about the hearings for the book Congress Investigates, 1792-1974: A Documented History. "So he essentially took on the lords of finance the same way he did the petty criminals."
By Amanda Ruggeri
http://www.allbusiness.com/...
To find a full list of exactly what this commission will be charged with (which is extensive and pretty damn amazing) go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
However I wanted to point out these facts, because they are important:
(2) to examine the causes of the collapse of each major financial institution that failed (including institutions that were acquired to prevent their failure) or was likely to have failed if not for the receipt of exceptional Government assistance from the Secretary of the Treasury during the period beginning in August 2007 through April 2009;
(4) to refer to the Attorney General of the United States and any appropriate State attorney general any person that the Commission finds may have violated the laws of the United States in relation to such crisis; and
* Authorized the Commission to "hold hearings, sit and act at times and places, take testimony, receive evidence, and administer oaths" and "require, by subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and documents." This subpoena power was also held by the Pecora Commission, but not the 9/11 Commission.
* Provided that "a report containing the findings and conclusions of the Commission" shall be submitted to the President and to the Congress on December 15, 2010, and that at the discretion of the chairperson of the Commission, the report may include reports or specific findings on any financial institution examined by the Commission.
* Provides that the chairperson of the Commission shall, not later than 120 days after the date of submission of the final report, appear before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee to testify regarding the Commission's findings.
As was noted earlier in the diary issuing subpoenas will require support from at least one of the Republicans. How this will play out I am not certain, but I am hoping that this will not become just another opportunity at partisan bickering at its worst, like so many other things in our government.
What I am very interested in is number 4 in the above provisions of the Commission:
To refer to the Attorney General of the United States and any appropriate State attorney general any person that the Commission finds may have violated the laws of the United States in relation to such crisis;
If you actually consider the amount of controlled fraud that has taken place in the AIG scandal alone, what we should be seeing is hundreds of 'perp' walks to dozens of prisons throughout our nation, if, and that is a very big "IF" this commission has the 'balls' to actually go after these crooks and liars the way that Pecora 'the pit bull' did, but I think it is more of a 'propaganda tool' comparing this Commission to the Pecora Commission (that did an outstanding job of not only throwing lots of Bankers in jail, but creating solid financial reform that protected Americans until the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999.)
Let's hold off on calling this the new Pecora Commission, until after the fact. Until after this (now being called) the Angelides Commission has 'earned' that comparison.
Critics have voiced disappointment that the hearings have not yet begun, and fear that they are arriving too late, since Congress is now working on (already compromised) financial reform bills in both the House and Senate. Angelides took issue with that view.
"True reform does not come with the sweep of legislation alone," he said. "New Deal reforms were a product of many years of discussion about what we wanted our financial system be. Ultimately, true reform is about cultures and values--what's considered acceptable and optimal in the marketplace, and also what commitment you have at the regulatory sector and what capability you have at the regulatory sector.... This discussion of reform is one that is not about to end but one that is just beginning." As that discussion begins, Angelides understands that people rightly want to see accountability--as opposed to record bonuses for bailout recipients while the rest of the nation continues to suffer. Angelides says he is determined to follow the facts wherever they lead and take appropriate action, but he sees the potential for a far greater contribution than merely busting corrupt fat cats.
"Our job is not as we see it to embarrass people but to produce facts," he said. "And if facts embarrass people, so be it. And if in fact they unveil wrongdoing, so be it.... The most important thing that we can do is to shed light, and not heat. To unveil what happened, so that Americans can have a clear understanding of history, so we do not repeat it. And what we do [then] is we help foster the kind of deep debate about financial reform that this country needs and deserves."
http://www.thenation.com/...
I believe that the 'Chief Investigator' has now been appointed:
Thomas Borgers has been appointed as a senior investigator to the FInancial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Borgers, a certified fraud examiner with broad experience in financial services, recently developed recovery strategies for victims of Bernard Madoff. He was previously a manager and consultant for KPMG and senior investigator-in-charge for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and he serves on the board of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, New York.
snip...
By now, almost everybody has heard of Harry Markopolis. He's the guy who repeatedly blew the whistle on Bernie Madoff to the SEC. Unfortunately, no one listened. Glen Ridge resident Tom Borgers is, like Markopolos, a certified fraud examiner. Founder of the Felsen Group, Borgers is an expert in tracking down financial bad guys, and he's now representing some Bernie Madoff victims. And he's got some news for you - and for President Obama. Borgers says Obama was dead wrong last week when he told talk show host Jay Leno that most of the stuff that caused our current financial crisis was "perfectly legal."
"I could attest to the fact that there was gross negligence and gross fraud at the highest levels," Borgers told me last week over coffee at the Glen Ridge Starbucks. Unfortunately, says Borgers, who worked as a senior investigator for the FDIC during the savings and loan crisis, the government has a terrible record of going after financial fraudsters. He says federal regulators "never went after" 96 percent of the people responsible for the S&L crisis.
http://www.baristanet.com/...
Hey, this Borgers sounds like my kind of guy. Let's hope that he is as outraged as the rest of us are and willing to go after these bastards full tilt boogie.
Here is a small contribution to you Mr. Borgers to show Mr. Angelides and the rest of the Commission. You might want to start here, and show this video while Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs is being 'questioned' and ask him some thoughtful and penetrating questions:
How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash
In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.
Goldman's sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation's premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies. Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk.
Now, pension funds, insurance companies, labor unions and foreign financial institutions that bought those dicey mortgage securities are facing large losses, and a five-month McClatchy investigation has found that Goldman's failure to disclose that it made secret, exotic bets on an imminent housing crash may have violated securities laws.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...
Also see bobswern's excellent diary today on 'the lowdown' of just how criminally insane these Bankers really are:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And by the way Mr. Angelides, Americans would start to gain trust and credibility in our leaders and financial markets, if you could 'claw back' the 13 trillion dollars that was funneled to Goldman Sachs from AIG and demand that all the bonuses that Goldman Sachs have made in the past two years be 'frozen' and distributed to those same Americans that lost their pensions funds, the insurance companies, the labor unions and the foreign financial institutions that bought those 'dicey mortgage securities' that Goldman Sachs knew were 'junk' to begin with.
And as long as you are going to be questioning the top five CEO's the the Banks that 'tanked the entire world economy' and put 25 million people out of their jobs, many out of their homes, and ruined countless lives please take the time to ask Treasurer Timothy Geithner, why the hell he is still doing nothing about this:
Fitch's has found that JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley together hold 80% of the country's derivatives risk, and 96% of the exposure to credit derivatives: About 80% of the derivative assets and liabilities carried on the balance sheets of 100 companies reviewed by Fitch were held by five banks: JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. Those five banks also account for more than 96% of the companies' exposure to credit derivatives.
Major Wall Street players are digging in against fundamental changes.
At issue is whether trading in credit default swaps and other derivatives—and the giant, too-big-to-fail firms that traded them—will be allowed to dominate the financial landscape again once the crisis passes. As things look now, that is likely to happen...Geithner's new rules would allow the over-the-counter market to boom again, orchestrated by global giants that will continue to be "too big to fail" (they may have to be rescued again someday, in other words). And most of it will still occur largely out of sight of regulated exchanges...
The old culture is reasserting itself with a vengeance. All of which runs up against the advice now being dispensed by many of the experts who were most prescient about the crash and its causes—the outsiders, in other words, as opposed to the insiders who are still running the show.
http://www.georgewashington2.blogspo...
If the Obama Administration and Treasurer Geithner expect Americans to believe 'anything' that they are saying about real reform in our financial sectors, then they can start by stopping the blatant duplicity that every American sees clearly is indeed happening on 'their watch.' You can't have it both ways guys: You either step up to the plate and protect Americans with rock solid reform that Pecora was able to 'sweep' in with the aid of FDR, or save of us all the time, and just fully admit you are working directly for Wall Street and the Banks.
Americans are amazing people. If you just admit mistakes and move on to fix them, they will be loyal and support your efforts. On the other hand, if you just continue to say one thing, then do nothing except support the same bunch of crooks and liars that got us all into this fix in the first place, then you can fully expect the 'rage factor' to multiply exponentially in the very near future.
I'm really hoping for the best as far as this new Commission goes, and I am putting 'my money' on Brooksley Born to 'kick ass and take names' based on her history with Larry Summers and those in the Clinton (Rubin and Greenspan) who refused to not only listen to her continued warnings and the dire consequences facing the financial markets because of lack of oversight and regulation, but in fact, what these people ended up doing to her, was throwing her under the bus, then running back and over her about a million times.
Born was appointed to the CFTC on April 15, 1994 by President Bill Clinton. Born and her team at the CFTC conducted a financial analysis which led them to anticipate a serious financial crisis due to growth in the trade of unregulated derivatives. When Born became chair of the CFTC, she sought comments on the regulation of derivatives,[6] a first step in the process of writing comprehensive regulations. Born was particularly concerned about swaps, financial instruments that are traded over the counter on the dark market, and thus have no transparency except to the two counter-parties. Regulation was strenuously opposed by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.[7] On May 7, 1998, former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt joined Rubin and Greenspan in objecting to the issuance of the CFTC’s concept release. Their response dismissed Born's concerns off hand and focused on the possibility that discussing the regulation of swaps and other OTC derivative instruments would increase legal uncertainty of such instruments, potentially creating turmoil in the markets, and reducing the value of the instruments. Further concerns voiced were that the imposition of new regulatory costs would stifle innovation and push transactions offshore.[8]
An economic and financial crisis affected US and world markets in 2008. As it gained momentum, newspapers began reporting on some of its possible causes, including the suppression of Born's recommendations and the adversarial relationship Greenspan, Rubin and Levitt had with Born.[3][7] The disagreement has been described not only as a classic Washington turf war,[5] but also as a war of ideologies as Greenspan and highly placed Clinton administration officials believed that, in large measure, the capital markets could be trusted to regulate themselves.[9]
Born declined to publicly comment on the unfolding 2008 crisis until March 2009 when she said: "The market grew so enormously, with so little oversight and regulation, that it made the financial crisis much deeper and more pervasive than it otherwise would have been."[5] She also lamented the influence of Wall Street lobbyists on the process and the refusal of regulators to discuss even modest reforms.[5] An October 2009 Frontline documentary titled "The Warning" described Born's failed efforts to regulate and bring transparency to the secretive derivatives market, and noted the continuing resistance to reform. The program concluded with Born sounding another warning: "I think we will have continuing danger from these markets and that we will have repeats of the financial crisis -- may differ in details but there will be significant financial downturns and disasters attributed to this regulatory gap, over and over, until we learn from experience."[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
God speed Ms. Born, our good thoughts go with you to stand up for Americans everywhere so that the real truth of what has happened will not only come out, but that those that caused this criminal catastrophe will be held accountable, and hauled off to jail where they belong.
Meanwhile, I'm keeping my powder dry, and if things get really hot and heavy and this Commission dares to live up to the name of Pecora and what he did for our nation, I'll be hosing down when the real fight for Americans turns into something we can all be proud of. If anyone calls, I'll be in the shower soaking my head:
Hey, Angelides......it ain't the 'Percora Commission' until you live up to that great man's name....we'll be watching.
Two last things...I find it really 'curious' that this story was put out on the media on Christmas Eve. I mean, it's almost like they don't want anyone to really 'notice' what is coming up when they question some of the biggest CEO's of the top Banks/Investment houses on January 13th and 14th. Does anyone else think that this is really big news, and this story should be out front and center. And what is even more curious is how asshat Joe Lieberman has now called for 'hearings' on the latest terrorist episode the exact same week that the new 'Angelides Commission' will be questioning the top 5 Crooks and Liars Bankers on the tanking of our entire economy. How convenient...a new 'decoy' put up by Traitor Joe. Strange how no one in the Senate has to date called for any serious 'Hearings' on Wall Street and the Banks.
The five largest remaining banks are today larger, their executives and traders richer, their strategies of placing large bets with other people's money no less bold than before the meltdown. The possibility of new regulations emanating from Congress has barely inhibited the Street's exuberance.
But if Wall Street is back on top, the everyday lives of large numbers of Americans continue to be subject to overwhelming trauma, chaos and disruption.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Trauma, chaos and disruption does not even begin to describe the catastrophic consequences of what Wall Street, the Banks and or entire key financial markets 'knowingly and criminally' did to our country and our people.
The other thing is that I went to take a look at the website for the Commission itself, hoping to find additional information. This Commission was formed in July 2009. That means they have had close to 5 months to 'get going on it.'
Take a look at the website to see your tax dollars at work:
http://www.fcic.gov/
This is not what I would call an auspicious beginning....The 'hearings' begin in less than two weeks, and the website has no information what-so-ever for taxpayers to call or contribute their thoughts and ideas.....you'd think it's almost as if they don't give a rat's ass if the taxpayers are interested or not. I mean, it is only the most significant issue of our time and one would 'think' that Angelides could provide at least a 'contact us at' information for people.
I'm amazed at this level of incompetence, but then the word 'accountability' has become an antiquated thing of the past in our little 'Oligarchy' corner of the world.
I just wanted to make certain that everyone on Kos was aware of these upcoming hearings, and to note this information on their calendars. No word yet on if they will be televised or anything like that, but I'll try to get that word out if I can find the information.
Thanks.