Danny Schechter - ColdType

CHAPTER 7
iNVEsTigATiNg
FiNANciAl criMiNAls
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Criminal investigations are usually the province of police
agencies and Attorneys General. The FBI, for example
has taken the lead on mortgage fraud cases. But there
has also been a clamor for a Special commission modeled on
the Pecora Commission, that looked into the wheeling and
dealing and corruption on Wall Street that led to the crash of
1929 and the depression that followed.
Congress agreed to organize a body like this, but independent
analysts fear it will go nowhere now.
Economist Dean Baker was uncertain about its potential
impact, writing: “Unfortunately, there is a real possibility that
the commission appointed by Congress may follow a different
precedent. Instead of striving to uncover the truth, it may seek
to conceal it.”
Robert Kuttner, of the American Prospect magazine, also
fears that partisan politics would derail an aggressive independent
probe: “Perhaps it was too much to hope that this
commission would be a chance to investigate root causes and
mobilize public sentiment behind the sweeping reforms that
are needed and not yet forthcoming. Obviously, Republican
House Leader John Boehner and his Senate counterpart, Mitch
McConnell, are not about to put serious critics of deregulation
on this panel.
For the new Pecora Commission, Pelosi and Reid need to
do better than finding a predictable list of retired and safe
Democratic politicians. This is a rare chance to light a real fire
on behalf of deep reform.
Baker suggested what a real truth commission might do: