Financial Crisis Commission's 'Show Must Not Go On': NYT Op-Ed

nytimes.com:

The commission must uncover what bankers, investors, government officials and other people in positions of power, past and present, would prefer not to say -- or perhaps do not know or understand -- about the crash and the bailouts. The primary aim is not to air issues and foster debate, but to test views, resolve contradictions and arrive at evidence-based conclusions.

Yet the commission -- which is supposed to file a final report by Dec. 15 -- has not issued a single subpoena for documents. Instead, investigators have apparently been relying on voluntary cooperation, public records and information-sharing agreements that have been negotiated with federal agencies. A thorough investigation requires source documents that reveal what people were thinking and doing at the time of the events and that illuminate, buttress or contradict testimony.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[yourmomscalling]

05:43 AM on 01/22/2010

Financial Crisis Commission = A HUGE WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY JUST LIKE THE PAY CZAR
Financial Crisis Commission = THIS IS A JOKE RIGHT OBAMA!!!!!

[yourmomscalling]

06:12 PM on 01/19/2010

Crisis Commission WHAT A JOKE SHOULD BE CALLED THE BS COMMISSION

ANOTHER HUGE WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY BY DEMOCRATS

[stargazer13]

11:33 AM on 01/19/2010

I watch panel one and panel two was not impressed !! by either side !!
in fact by listening I have lost all hope in this mess being cleaned up

makes me very angry that they use the term we just did not see it coming kinda like who would have ever thought some one would have used planes to do this !!

can these men not see that by this corrupt circus they are all bank CEO,s and elected looking like thieving fools all I keep asking my self when watching both panels was well you keep mentioning the same sentences like that,s going to cause us to believe this crap notice for example how F.B.I. was mentioned in first panel but elected conveniently refused to say that F.B.I,s investigation found out that banks were 80% responsible for this crises so that those of us watching don,t get the real % of the banker causing this problem in the first place

I have no confidence in these elected !! to fix any thing in this country just because of the words they choose to not use in these hearing ,s will watch 3rd panel to today !!

white wash will not calm the American people down in fact white washing is making us more angry !!

[spinns17]

01:27 AM on 01/19/2010

the dog and pony show goes on ,while wall street crooks get richer.

[rudolph]

10:17 PM on 01/18/2010

Window-dressing as usual. Government fails again....

[research]

11:51 PM on 01/18/2010

Unfortunately with the DLC New Dem Blue dogs, GOP conservatives in control, the Banksters will continue their increased dominance of the peasants.

Vote for the Progressive Caucus, Kucinich, Dean Grayson and the like in the primaries, then vote straight democratic in the general election (except for certain independent progressives).

[spinns17]

01:34 AM on 01/19/2010

just like there bosses on wall street

[hellboundtrain]

09:51 PM on 01/18/2010

"Lowly taxpayers: Always remember that all money, all gold, all real estate, all of everything that you had ever hoped to own now, or in the endless future of your unborn progeny, belongs to US, and this is as it should be because congress has given US certain absolute power!"

"It is ALL OURS!"

'

[WritusMaximus]

09:46 PM on 01/18/2010

"The inquiry is getting under way at a critical moment. The House has passed a financial regulatory reform bill that was enfeebled in important respects by bank lobbyists."

Sounds like Barney House Bill 4173, which keeps TBTF, TBTF, and guarantees them TBTF creatures a multi-trillion dollar taxpayer bailout when next crisis hits? Why isn't Barney on the witness list????????

[rad21]

09:05 PM on 01/18/2010

The hearings are the BEST CON SHOW on TV

[WritusMaximus]

09:54 PM on 01/18/2010

Let's see---committee members, who have not issued a single subpoena for documents, will get to the bottom of this mess by tongue lashing them banksters! No hard evidence, just talk and more talk, followed by back and forth talk, followed by clarifications/explanations, followed by one-liners, followed by come-backs, etc. This is definitely a hog and pig show, a fraud, a scam, in short, a fiction-based broadcast drama for public consumption. I wonder how it's doing in the ratings........

[RoloTomassi]

08:58 PM on 01/18/2010

Expect a repeat of healthcare reform; legislation will likely pass, but it will contain giveaways to the banksters, and it will have no real teeth; any resulting financial industry consumer protection agency will be an empty shell by design.

[yourmomscalling]

07:02 PM on 01/18/2010

WHAT A HUGE WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY ALL THIS COMISSION DOES IS JUST A SMOKE AND MIRROR SHOW !!!!

ELECTION DAY IS COMING

[theDailY BAILOUT]

01:04 PM on 01/18/2010

Obama's taxes on banks is a joke. these robber barons have nothing to fear from Obammi's lip service
good articles: http://iamned-website.blogspot.com

[stargazer13]

12:39 PM on 01/18/2010

Fire them already !! fire the FED to while were at it they have made a mess of things !!

no one,s going to jail no one is held accountable and they are buying our foreclosed homes for % cent on the dollar give me a break will ya 27 million Americans have been sacrificed to the bankers !

we lose they buy !! why be able to buy our home,s for % cents when we pretty much were made to pay full price buying there toxic debt !!

[RickshawJohnson]

03:47 PM on 01/18/2010

They aren't buying foreclosed homes, they own those homes. The bank owns your home when you have a mortgage loan. If someone cannot pay, the bank exercises their right to claim collateral.


It sucks, but that's how it goes.

And no one "made" you do anything. No one forced people to buy homes at full price, it was their own personal decision to take out a mortgage at the peak of the market. It is not solely the fault of banks because home prices inflated, there were a number of factors that caused it.

[Hurried Harry]

08:10 PM on 01/18/2010

What were the other factors?

Why did the banks not realize they were trading assests (mortgages) that had been overrated? Is that because the rating agency is actually paid by the trader? Why did the banks not carry sufficient capital to cover their bets? Why did the banks actively seek out subprime borrowers for refinancing opportunities that were misleading in their terms? Why, after their industry crashed, did they not lose their homes? It was their own personal decision to trade in toxic assets and not adequately calculate the risk of market inflation.

People who bought and could not pay for homes are not guilt free in many circumstances, however people who have lost their jobs due to the mess made of our economy by the games being played by bankers, are not at fault. There are many, many people in this category. Yet, they can't get any help.

The banks have far more blame here than you are giving them. Prove me wrong.

[desertman]

05:57 PM on 01/18/2010

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed.

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their taxes...

[stargazer13]

10:13 AM on 01/19/2010

you and my mom must be friends she said the same thing ")

[higherstrategy]

12:26 PM on 01/18/2010

Its like watching Nuremberg Trials if the Nazi's were allowed to prosecute their own.

[lightningbolt]

12:12 PM on 01/18/2010

There will be absolutely no confidence in this commission unless it gets VERY TOUGH on the banks. I want to see them act like the Pecora commission.

[theDailY BAILOUT]

12:06 PM on 01/18/2010

recession not over yet
good articles: http://iamned-website.blogspot.com