Wednesday, January 26, 2011

It Was Wall Street Cheated; the Refs on the Take; JQ Public Hosed

Filed under: Economy — by Will Kirkland @ 12:24 pm
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Leaked copies of the report from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission are making their way into the news today.  The official release and press conference is tomorrow, though the fact sheets that presumably are part of the report are available on the web site, here.

Bloomberg News begins this way:

The congressionally appointed panel assigned to probe the origins of the 2008 credit crisis heaped blame on “reckless” Wall Street firms and “weak” federal regulators, concluding the meltdown could have been avoided.

“The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public,” the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission wrote in a 545-page book outlining its conclusions. “Theirs was a big miss, not a stumble.”

A copy of the book obtained by Bloomberg News, a paperback emblazoned with a U.S. seal, faults the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve for failing to clamp down on the banks they supervised, and singles out former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan for backing “30 years of deregulation.”

Of course there was plenty of turmoil within the commission during the inquiry, with staff turn over and bickering.  The 4 Repubs didn’t sign the majority report.  3 added their own 27 page addendum, singling out 10 issues they felt caused it, and a 4th had his own take.  Of course we all wait anxiously to hear the financial and management creds of these fellows.  The head of the commission, Phil Angelides,  was once the Treasurer of the state of California.

1 Comment

  1. Julie Kinnear:

    It really is very similar to the development of the financial crisis in Greece. Here the EU officials kept secret all information they had and failed to heed the warnings about ineffective administration of financial resources which later resulted in the dramatic escalation of the whole situation with a number of detrimental consequences for the Greek people.

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Roger Casement
Irish Human Rights Champion

commenting on Teddy Roosevelt's 1910 Guildhall
speech telling Great Britain to either rule Egypt or get out.



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