Who are the Pecoras today?

Let us hope, however audaciously, that such a Commission actually does come about.

Such a Commission, after it has opened whatever cans of worms are required to be ‘investigated’, might lead to the resurrection of Glass-Steagal and other evidences of rational and reasonable controls upon economic activity and deliberate and intentional restraint upon unbridled greed, overblown avarice and piratical behavior.

At least, it could be a necessary ‘beginning’.

You need a young person with fire in the belly.

– among other things — that J.P. Morgan hadn’t paid taxes in years.

Lots of talk about tax havens and its not only the banks its hedgefunds big corporations and the rich.
I want someone who understands the economy a Lefty economists. Lawyers think is it legal I want someone who distrusts everything he sees and instead asks whats the impact on society besides making money.

greg palast is an extraordinary investigator.

here’s something i’d like to see added to the (very long) list of things to investigate (from the nyt, in diary):

Edward M. Liddy, the dollar-a-year chief executive leading the American International Group since its bailout last fall, still owns a significant stake in Goldman Sachs, one of the insurer’s trading partners that was made whole by the government bailout of A.I.G.

Mr. Liddy earned most of his holdings in Goldman, worth more than $3 million total, as compensation for serving on the bank’s board and its audit committee until he stepped down in September to take the job at A.I.G. He moved to A.I.G. at the request of Henry M. Paulson Jr., then the Treasury secretary and a former Goldman director.

1. We need to select a single person to run the investigation with a reputation for integrity and a track record of investigative success. We should not use “majority” and “minority” counsel. The parties need to settle on one person they trust.
2. The investigators need to be backed with Congressional subpoena authority.
3. The investigators, not the legislators, need to lead the questioning.
4. The investigators need authority to hire competent, vigorous, and adequate staff.
5. There must not be any limits on what they can investigate
6. We need public investigations, though they can of course interview witnesses in private first.

To get all of that we will need to be willing to hold up the next bank bailout to get some leverage.

BILL BLACK!!

(i know i’m not supposed to shout, but i’ve been saving up my capital letters to use for a good cause)

Any thoughts as to whom you might suggest?

The ‘choice’ will clearly telegraph (how’s that for an ‘old’ notion)or ’signal’ the initial intent and even the larger ‘purpose’ of said Commission.

The choice of today’s “Pecora” will be critical, indeed, masaccio.

We need people who understand the crooked system and have an axe to grind. Lots of ex Enron, Arthur Anderson, laid off bank employees to choose from.

you guys are gonna LOVE this;

Maersk crew member on how they gained control over the pirates: ‘We’re union members.’

Q: How did you retain control of the ship?

CRONAN: We’re American seamen. We’re union members. We stuck together, and we did our jobs. And that’s how we did it.

tee hee

teh you tube

I’d like to recommend Eliott Spitzer to head that commission.

J Cheevers Loophole would be good!

Eliot Spitzer might be good

We need this as a political ad!

Yeah if Diapers Senator Vitter can keep his job I see no reason not to hire Eliot.

Well paid employees fight back low wage employees see no point in trying to stop piracy perhaps because they are not paid enough to deal with it?

I don’t. The problem is to find someone young, in their 30s, with that special fire.

7) the investigation hearings must be on C-span and all information must be made available on the net.

8)We need an aggressive PR person to respond to GOP lies in the media about the investigation.

Excellent (and necessary) ‘additions’, TCU.

The Book An Anthropologist on Mars describes some mental patients who laughed every time President Reagan lied during a speech.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A…..st_on_Mars

(that scene is not mentioned in the wiki)

Anyway knowing when someone you question is lying could be an ace in the hole and speed up any investigation.

A financial news network that had people with this condition listen to CEO’s and guys like Cramer, Kudlow and Ben Stein and who would laugh everytime they lied would help restore financial transparency.

Thank You:)

The guy who wrote the Black Swan we need people who understand computer math models used to justify what the banks and hedges did.
Some of these models were crooked.

That’s whom I was going to suggest. He already has an excellent track record of going after these crumbums and probably already knows where a few bodies are buried.

So, we’ve come to the point where we accept that it’s entirely sensible to debate whether to investigate the causes of our recent economic troubles on one hand, or simply paint the game pieces a different color, and resuming the time honored tactic of giving the opposition more rope on the other.

Elizabeth Warren would be perfect to head a Pecora Commission. Envision Elizabeth Warren with subpoena power….Now there is a picture of hope.

Actually, majority and minority counsel wouldn’t be too bad. It worked well with the Watergate hearings. You then get at least one competent investigator/lawyer pushing things forward (assuming the Republican guy doesn’t cooperate). Agreeing on one person might require agreeing on one person who won’t threaten anyone.

What needs to be avoided is having hearings where each bloviating gasbag, er, senator or representative, gets a 5 or 10 minute slot to try to impress everyone with his/her “questioning”, and if anyone actually manages to ask a good question the witness just filibusters, stretching out the “answer” until time expires.

Call me skeptical but I don’t see how the financial interests that own congress & the White House will allow a truth telling investigation of their oligarchy.

Anything more than Potemkin hearings would lead to real reforms and restructuring of a system that is highly successful for them and utterly fails rest of the economy.

Stiglitz, etal. have seen the writing on the wall.

In war, and this is a war, the eternal casualty is the truth.