Financial Crisis Commission Chair: 'The Investigative Work Is Underway'

The federal commission created to investigate the roots of the financial crisis has begun its review of documents and will announce next week a series of senior staff appointments, its chief said Friday.

Phil Angelides, head of the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, emphasized the importance of establishing accountability, noting that "in 1929 on Wall Street, people were throwing themselves out of windows. This year, they're lining up for bonuses."

The commission, created earlier this year, is styled after the 9/11 Commission and the Pecora Commission, which exposed in riveting detail the role played by the titans of Wall Street in the 1929 stock market crash.

"The investigative work is underway," said Angelides, a former California State Treasurer. His investigators have been reviewing regulatory filings, he noted, though he didn't get into specifics.

In a speech to a gathering of progressive economists in Washington, D.C., Angelides noted that the commission's ultimate contribution will be a "historical accounting" of the crisis.

"It's critically important," the Democrat said. "True reform does not come with the sweep of new regulation alone. True reform is about cultures and values."

He noted that there's "a hunger to hold people accountable...a hunger to find out what happened...and a hunger (for the responsible) to take responsibility."

"We haven't had that robust dialogue" about what we want the financial system to be, he said.

Angelides added that the commission will be holding a series of public hearings throughout next year.

The commission has the power to compel testimony through subpoenas, and has the authority to refer wrongdoers for criminal prosecution though he emphasized that he is more interested in gathering information: "If we find 30 perps and line them against the wall, we will have undersized the problem. The most important thing we can do is shed light, not heat."

Comments

[Stop Wall Street]

Yay Stocks surging. Real unemployment (including those who 'stopped looking' lol) is at 20%. once again ,this proves that the government is in the tank for Wall Street or else there would be more jobs even if the jobs arn't considered efficient by economist standards.

good articles: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

The only beneficiaries of this 'v shaped' recovery are the bankers, fund managers, and rest of the top 1%

[totaldisbelief]

well I'm all-relieved all over now!

[Harrier]

It amazes me when you give companies money that clearly knew what they were doing when they created the problem...That you give them that money without first greeting them to commit to not lobbying regarding and changes to proposed changes in regulation. Nobody has been arrested, financial institutions are still not lending, still using bail out money to outsource US jobs to India...Soaring credit card rates, fees for transactions. Clearly this was a coordinated effort among financial institution. This is clearly a national security risk that the government refuses to regulate. The Financial instruments are simple to understand..it's the financial industry that has made to appear a lot more complicated than what it is.

[Mildmannered]

Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, "wants the nation’s banks to be prohibited from owning and trading risky securities, the very practice that got the biggest ones into deep trouble in 2008. And the administration is saying no, it will not separate commercial banking from investment operations. ...“The banks are there to serve the public,” Mr. Volcker said, “and that is what they should concentrate on. These other activities create conflicts of interest. They create risks, and if you try to control the risks with supervision, that just creates friction and difficulties” and ultimately fails. ... Mr. Volcker’s proposal would roll back the nation’s commercial banks to an earlier era, when they were restricted to commercial banking and prohibited from engaging in risky Wall Street activities."

[ Essentially this is a crusade to bring back the Glass-Steagall Act, which was used to keep separate commercial and investment banking activities. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 repealed it. Consequently "full service" banking giants like Citigroup and JP Morgan came to be, now allowed to participate in every financial activity imaginable. Many, including Volcker believe this was a big mistake, and one of the causes of the financial crisis.]

[Rosewren]

Sadly it took Madoff to get people to throw themselves out of windows or a simular fate.

[HMDMSR]

Sadness? It depends on who took the leap. If Wall St. was ground zero, this time we shouldn't mind so much.

[NoMoreBail2]

We, the American people, dug ourselves into this hold for which there is no escape.a

hat tip to: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[lightningbolt]

I hope this commission actually investigates instead of covering up the crimes like the 9-11 commission.

[plaidsportcoat]

Angelides is smart and was good in CA - but one never knows what will happen once they get to Washington D.C.

[MadAppraiser]

I hope Phil Angelides is the caped crusader America has anxiously awaited to solve our economic disaster!!! The American economy is a real Friday the 13 present for Washington! ENJOY!!!

Chairman Kent Conrad’s
Top 10 Foreign Holders of the National Debt:

CHINA……………­…………………………­$797,000,0­00,000
JAPAN……………­…………………………­$731,000,0­00,000
UNITED KINGDOM ……………………….­$226,000,0­00,000
OIL EXPORTERS…­……………………….­$189,000,0­00,000
CARIBBEAN BANKING CENTERS…….­..$180,000­,000,000
BRAZIL…………­…………………………­...$137,00­0,000,000
HONG KONG………………­………………$125­,000,000,0­00
RUSSIA…………­…………………………­..$122,000­,000,000
LUXEMBERG…­…………………………­….$94,000,­000,000
TAIWAN…………­…………………………­...$76,000­,000,000