Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Ferdinand Pecora
Six months since its creation and 16 months after the beginning of the current economic meltdown, a special commission charged with investigating the causes of the Wall Street collapse finally will begin holding public hearings next month. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has maintained a low profile since July, speaking privately with administration officials. Some Washington observers have wondered how thorough the bipartisan commission will delve into the decision-making that brought the financial sector to its knees and in need of a $700 billion bailout from the federal government.
Along with many others, Ron Chernow, author of a book on the JP Morgan family empire, has called for a reinvention of the Pecora investigations, the year-long Depression-era hearings held by the Senate banking committee that pulled no punches when grilling Wall Street barons, thanks to lead counsel Ferdinand Pecora.
The inquiry of the 2008 debacle is being led by two Californians: Phil Angelides, a longtime player in Democratic Party politics and gubernatorial candidate, and Bill Thomas, a former Republican congressman from Bakersfield. The first hearings will be held on January 13 and 14, and will feature chief executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. The commission has promised to interview hundreds of witnesses over the next year.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Dimon, Blankfein, Mack Among First to Testify at Crisis Panel (by Lorraine Woellert, Bloomberg News)
Where Is Our Ferdinand Pecora? (by Ron Chernow, New York Times)
Ferdinand Pecora: An American Hero (by Jackie Corr, CounterPunch)
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