Panel Probing Financial Crisis Has Wall Street Ties

Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- Two appointees to a congressional panel investigating the financial crisis work for law firms that represent either Wall Street or its antagonists, raising concerns about the commission's impartiality and likely effectiveness.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[twilight druid]

Only invest in gold or silver. Don't waste time with stocks.

Think of gold as the real money ad the US dollar as foreign currency.

[desertman]

bingo!

[spinns17]

bank has become the new 4 letter word to me.

[desertman]

Since savings accounts have zero yield, mattress is the new bank.

[trunk65]

The only recorded time that Jesus lashed out in anger was at the money changers that had polluted the money changing process at the Temple. History repeats itself, and the anger that followed is driven by a sense of betrayal on the part of Wall Street. Wake up people! These masters of the universe will never regulate themselves, and given an 8 year head start, they seized on a golden opprotunity to transfer massive amounts of wealth to their side of the ledger. As it stands, the game is rigged, and those that dare oppose it politically are quickly crushed.
We need massive pressure and support to demand reform of our financial system, or we will soon become a Serfdom economy. That is just fine with those on the top.

[desertman]

To believe these problems have their beginning in the previous eight years in naive. One merely needs to look to the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 to know there were many cooks involved in the meltdown.

[olmossy]

Reganomics. Friedmanom­ics."Suppl­y Side, Trickle down" Even Old King George (bush) called them Voodoo Economics. Rob from the Poor and give to the Rich.
But notice no one fought really very hard between Republicans to change things.
Nobody represents the American People.

[zigzag1]

Wish I could believe in Jesus as God and heaven and hell. Then my wishes that the Wall Street crooks and their enablers in both parties burn in hell might come true. But alas, they will just rot in their graves like the rest of us.

[lynettema]

Don't we have to have someone who knows finance fix the financial problem? How we going to find someone who knows finance but has NO connections to someone on Wall St? A little common sense here people. If we got people who are willing to leave their dishy, cushy jobs in finance to work on our problems and take a government job which is going to pay substantially less, more power to them. Of course they should be vetted - we don't want them there as a watch dog for Wall St.

[desertman]

“The universe would have expanded in a smooth way from a single point. As it expanded, it would have borrowed energy from the gravitational field, to create matter. As any economist could have predicted, the result of all that borrowing, was inflation. The universe expanded and borrowed at an ever-increasing rate. Fortunately, the debt of gravitational energy will not have to be repaid until the end of the universe.” - Steven Hawking

For us in the USA, personal and national debts tend to come due long before the universe eventually collapses back in on itself. In the meantime, however, the administration seems content to continue pouring money it doesn’t have into black hole spending programs it cannot sustain.

[onenvrnos]

Is this cronyism EVER going to end? Does it exist in every nook and cranny? Puhlllllll­eeeeeeeeee­eez, all you "put it in your pocket/rip off the middle class" politicians, lobbyists, and zombies...­please just go away.

[desertman]

The short answer is no.

[1dogs2]

A thorough investigation is necessary as is the appointment of a commission to do so. Who should be appointed to the commission? The appointees have to have considerable legal and financial expertise to understand the complex shenanigans that led us to the brink of economic catastrophe. Who has such expertise? Lawyers who have litigated complex financial issues. It's a bit premature to assume that these appointees will shirk their task or that they are hopelessly biases. Much of legal training consists of learning to analyze and appreciate all sides of an issue, and there is no reason to believe that when their job is to analyze what happened and to describe cause and effect (as opposed to representing a client's best position), they are not up to the task.

[TJCole]

We're a government of the bankers, by the bankers and for the bankers...­not the people..!

[lynettema]

Who you going to get to do this - a street cleaner, doctor, dentist, teacher, plumber, moose shooter - you got to have someone who knows finance to the job.

[TJCole]

I know finance so do my brothers and we're not crooks...

It's the banking culture of America itself that is corrupt, and those of it are now corrupted most irreparably like Geithner..­.to begin with his entire orientation is all wrong...sa­me for Bernanke for the most part..

[gcallaghan]

Look, if someone was to investigate the Mafia, who better to lead it than a couple of the Dons? They know how the business operates, where the bodies are buried and their word is gold. So, this makes perfect sense.

[gakabani]

Corrupt? The blind leading the blind.

[Hank007]

More like the blind leading the shrewd.

[spinns17]

more like the shrewed leading the dumb

[Halsey]

many years ago, as a poli sci major at UCLA (I concentrated on Latin American Countries)­...I was appalled at the corruption­...every PRI president left office after six years a MULTI millionnai­re...hmmm.­.same with other Latin American countries.­..well..in the USA of today..the­y look like pikers.. The incestuous corruption between Wall Street and K Street and sadly Pennsylvania Avenue is I fear unbreakable. Obama has shown to be too trusting of his Rahm's and Geitners and Bernakes..­. I hate to add...this love relationship started with Bill Clinton and Robert Rubin...an­d dismantelling of Glass-Steg­all.... I have just a small shred of hope that Obama wakes up and sees that he is being used and lied to...yes..­his plate is full, and none of it of his making...f­rankly he remains our only hope...but the clock is ticking..

[billyfitz]

The dems appointed someone who may be partial to consumers and the repubs appointed someone who is partial to banks.

[jeffp26]

When it comes to wall street, I am afraid Obama is getting some very bad advice.

But after all, Goldman Sachs does own the Treasury.

[gorgol]

Why do I feel that we are doomed...?­? Over decades the corruption has grown, until now it permeates everything­...This isn't about "voting the bad guys out"....We were warned by our Forefathers about all of this....th­ey knew what might come...and they had recommendations for when it did....

[norkas]

We the People will stand up and overturn the corruption that will not go away with today politicians.

Republicans, Democarts, Independents, will stand togeather because this is what we all can agree with. I am tired and almost feel like this is a hazy dream where i have been druged.

This is a massice conflict and unless they have a excellent reason for this then we are doomed because for sure it will happen again.

The proof is easy to find. Ask a loan officer why they complained to there supervisor that the loan they would give would not be paid back yet their boss told them to anyway. In most cases of the banks their board of directors told the pres. of banks to agressive loan money and told they will have to close their eyes. There is enough proof of this major fraud that is costing Americans trillions .

I have seen on reports on tv of bank loan officers complaing that they would loose their jobs unless they loaned the money and the government knows it also. These garbage loans were then packaged by wallstreet and the banks and sold to investers globbaly. The board of banks mostly were connected to wall street and they pushed big time for the loans they new were a toxic mess.

WE THE PEOPLE

[Ladywolf55]

Why do you feel we are doomed? Because of apathy of the people, we ARE.

[mimigrammy]

Well of course their are some ties to the industry. Who do you want doing the job, Farmers?

[elsieach]

As a matter of fact, yes.

Your basic farmer has a tractor-load of ethics that far overshadows any Wall Street player.

They're smart enough and ethical enough to do their job - providing food for you - rather than spending their time looking for ways to make you think you're being fed.

[not going2take it]

W - O - W !

Makes my brain tingle - seriously!

Great word play.
Awesome!

[land2341]

Nicely said.

[lynettema]

That's why they need government subsidies to make it. Get real. It takes more than ethics to know the financial field as compared to the corn field.

[Ladywolf55]

BINGO!!!! You get the gold medal for best answer!

[TJCole]

More Corruption­..!