Enlisting Goldman in Our Recovery

We must modernize the rules governing our financial institutions swiftly so that we can turn to a more pressing matter - how to move capital into our productive economy. Likewise, the purpose of the Senate's and SEC's financial forensics is not simply to name and shame. It is to enlist Goldman Sachs and its cohorts into reinvesting in a durable equitable America.

Here are five low cost ways of doing this:

1. Create a National Infrastructure Bank that can draw capital out of Wall Street banks and into public works without creating a new asset bubble.

2. Invest in the capacity of government - federal, state and local - to oversee its contractors (eg JP Morgan and Electronic Benefits Transfer) so as to reduce the costs of inefficiently executed privatization programs.

3. Provide technical assistance to state and local governments considering the leasing of public assets such as capitol buildings, convention centers, and parking systems to ensure that decisions are guided by sound principles rather than costly Greek-styled gimmicks.

4. Continue to catalyze investment strategies to increase exports - deepen ports and add airport runways, address exchange rate inefficiencies, reinforce a cohesive national market through strategic investments in energy and freight rail, etc.

5. Make the stimulus act Build America Bond program permanent while ensuring that capital flows more effectively to distressed areas as well as to productive investments.