On January 13, the bi-partisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission began two days of public hearings in Washington, grilling the CEOs of four of the nation’s largest financial institutions. The ten member commission has been charged with “examining the causes of the financial and economic crisis in the United States” that had brought the nation to the worst recession in decades. There are 22 specific areas of inquiry they are to pursue, with a report of their findings due to the Congress, the President and the American people on December 15, 2010.

Before one shrugs and says, “Just another government commission,” it is important to remember the results of the Pecora Commission that investigated the causes of the l929 stock market crash. Ferdinand Pecora, the former New York prosecutor, exposed Wall Street’s role in exhaustive probing over a two-year period. His investigators issued subpoenas, delved into bankers’ ( dubbed banksters) personal records, established motives and highlighted discrepancies. His most famous questioning of J.P. Morgan Jr., son of the founder of the company, revealed that the House of Morgan had vast control of other financial institutions. As a result of the investigation, many financial executives lost their positions. More important, Congress passed New Deal banking and securities laws and a period of financial oversight and regulation followed that lasted for decades.

The opening of the current commission hearing pitted Chairman Phil Angelides, former California State Treasurer, against Lloyd Blankfein, chief of Goldman Sachs. He asked Mr. Blankfein to explain how his firm could have sold bundles of weak mortgages at the same time it placed bets with Goldman’s money that their value would fall. Blankfein avoided the thrust of the question and said his firm was simply providing a customer service. “These are professional investors who want this exposure.” Angelides sharply commented, “It sounds to me a little bit like selling a car with faulty brakes and then buying an insurance policy on the buyer of the car.” During the hearing, neither Blankfein nor the other three CEOs apologized. He offered such lame comments as, “Whatever we did, it didn’t work out well. We regret the consequences that people have lost some money.”

Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase gave his perspective that a financial crisis is something that “happens every five or seven years. We shouldn’t be surprised.” Of course, the facts are that after the Pecora hearings were held and Congress enacted major banking reforms and regulation, the United States avoided major financial crises for half a century. Mr. Dimon did admit that his bank never considered that there might be a deep decline in home prices despite warnings that the housing bubble was ready to burst. Blankfein had compared the financial crisis to a huge hurricane nobody could predict in his prepared testimony, “We should resist a response that is solely designed around protecting us from the l00-year storm.” His basic message and that of the other three bankers was clear - there is no need to rush with reform and regulation. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize economist, described the four CEO’s as “Bankers Without A Clue.”

We know that many American men and women are very angry at the Wall Street bankers and the Congress as well as former President Bush and President Obama. There is free-floating anger in the land with 15 million people unemployed, billions of dollars lost in savings and investments, and over one million home foreclosures by December, 2009. Taxpayers deplore TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) and the bank bailouts. They want their money back. The Tea Party Movement was nurtured as a political reaction to the wide-spread discontent and anger. The public is seeking accountability and most important – solutions.

President Obama, who inherited the economic crisis when he took office on January, 20, 2009, was ready to initiate programs to lessen the effects of the economic recession on the lives of the American people. He and his advisors had been working in advance to develop The Stimulus Plan that was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate in early February. The votes were 246-183 in the House and 60-38 in the Senate without one Republican legislator in favor. The $787 billion would provide tax relief, save jobs of teachers, fire fighters and police, fund projects to repair bridges and roads, and extend unemployment benefits to those who had lost their jobs. It would cover a two year period and work through the states to allocate dollars. Several southern Republican governors said they would decline the unemployment extension, but changed their position after the outcry from their citizens.

From the late l970s on, oversight and regulation of the American financial system had completely unraveled. The film, “Wall Street” epitomized the world of big corporations, banks and an ever-upward stock market where government control was almost nonexistent. In the film, the cutthroat chief executive lectured the stock holders of his company that “Greed is good!” In September, 2008, when the crash finally came and the current recession began, attempts at containment started. President Obama picked up the challenge and continues to work with the Congress to staunch the damage and create stronger oversight and regulation of the financial system.

On December 11, 2009, the House of Representatives passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. One of the main aims in the bill is to offer incentives to break up huge financial giants. It would also give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) the power to take over and sell off or shut down important financial institutions other than banks. And it would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Not surprisingly, Wall Street executives have reacted to the bill, saying it would cripple the economy with overregulation. After their dismal testimony in Washington, their warnings deserve little credence.

On January 15, 2010, President Barack Obama unveiled a proposal for a tax on the largest banks that could raise up to $117 billion. Each of these financial institutions has more than $50 billion in assets, including: Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, MetLife and Wells Fargo. Obama declared that he wanted “to recover every single dime the American people are owed” for bailing out the economy. He also called the current round of bank bonuses, “obscene” and added, “If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, they are surely in good enough shape to afford to pay back every penny to taxpayers.” The tax would require congressional approval and would last at least 10 years. Republican leaders have spoken out strongly against the proposed tax. In contrast, a group of House Democrats have called for an additional 50 percent tax on bonuses exceeding $50,000 at banks that took bailout money.

During his Saturday radio address to the American people two days later, Obama was clear in his resolve. “The very same firms reaping millions of dollars in profits, and reportedly handing out more money in bonuses and compensation than ever before in history, are now pleading poverty. It’s a sight to see.” He concluded, “Like clockwork, the banks and politicians who curry their favor are already trying to stop this fee from going into effect. We’re not going to let Wall Street take the money and run. We’re going to pass this fee into law.”

Joyce S. Anderson is the author of “Courage in High Heels,” “Flaw in the Tapestry,” “If Winter Comes” and “The Mermaids Singing.” She can be reached at JSAWrite@aol.com.