Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: Summoning the Ghost of Ferdinand Pecora

Ferdinand Pecora, the tough New York prosecutor who took on Wall Street following the collapse of the Great Depression, wrote in his 1936 memoirs:

"Legal chicanery and pitch darkness were the banker's stoutest allies."

The ghost of Ferdinand Pecora -- and indeed, of Franklin D. Roosevelt himself -- can be sensed in Washington, D.C. this week as Congress names the members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission - the modern-day version of the Roosevelt era "Pecora Commission." Tasked with uncovering "all causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States," the newly named commissioners have an historic opportunity to pave the way for meaningful reform.

To encourage the inquiry to live up to the experience of the 1930s, and to the expectations of the millions of Americans who continue to suffer under the weight of the currently broken and imbalanced economy, the Roosevelt Institute has launched an open letter and petition drive at www.whatcausedthecrisis.com, directed at the newly formed commission.

By taking lessons from the original Pecora Commission in its design and execution, the FCIC can ensure that its inquiry provides the insights needed to understand what caused the crisis and in so doing to protect the nation from future collapses.

Working with historians, law professors, economists and other scholars, we've developed three guidelines that we are asking the commission to follow. Without these measures, there is a danger the commission won't have enough "teeth" to truly get to the bottom of what and who caused the most recent crisis. From the open letter:

- 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.

The history of the Pecora Commission teaches us that a single investigator with the drive and freedom to find the truth -- reaching to the highest levels of Wall Street and the financial sector without impunity -- can uncover the conflicts of interest and fraud that brought down the nation's economy. It is clear that the same bright light of day needs to be shone on the people, institutions and practices that led to the most recent collapse.

We hope that these opportunities are afforded the new commission.

Andrew Rich is the President and CEO of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Sign the open letter at www.whatcausedthecrisis.com.

 

Follow Andrew Rich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NewDeal20

Comments

[iridium53]

Like so much of the Obama Administration and the new Democratic majority, these things happen is very s l o w motion.

Seems designed to give perpetrators time to destroy evidence, delay proceedings until the statute of limitations is past - in hopes the "jobless recovery" will let the banksters and they subservient politicians off the hook.

[TN60]

It is important that we get this right, not just another commission to white wash the corporate elite and cover the Congress's backsides who looked the other way as all the deregulation took place.

There should be a strong prosecutor. Eliot Spitzer would be a good one since I believe that his downfall was perpetrated by the Wall St. honchos because he was getting "too close" to showing their illegal activities,

Andrew Cuomo would be another good choice for a prosecutor and his father would be excellent to sit on any commission,

We need answers to the Wall Street raiding of our tax dollars and we are not going to get it with Summers and Geithner. In fact, I can't wait for those two to be replaced. I think they are the worst, along with pal Rubin, and they are giving the President bad advice.

Love the President....hate his two Wall St. raiders.

[DrFitz]

Definitely Spitzer. Angelides is fine, but not aggressive enough to scare the titans sufficiently. I'm really glad Pelosi named Brooksley Born. Reid's picks seem pretty weak to me. Very provincial to Las Vegas.

[nativist]

Spitz or Fitz, either one. I just want to see most of the upper echelon of Wall Street in prison orange. Ditto any Fed enablers. Enough is enough.

[WorkingClass]

With congressional leaders making the appointments I suppose we will get a white wash. Anyone who disagrees with it can then be dismissed as a conspiracy theorist.

[JFair]

Agreed... Congress accepted campaign finance donations (bribes) to overturn Glass-Steagall and not require the regulation of derivatives. An investigating commission should be fully independent of congress - and- definitely should not be appointed by them. Speaking of failure, if the mainstream media were doing their job, a lot of the investigatory work would have been done by now.

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

How about Eliot Spitzer?