Pelosi Plans Post-'29 Style Wall St. Hearings

[babylonsister]

Pelosi Wall Street Probe Modeled on Pecora After Market Crash

By Mark Pittman and Laura Litvan


April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street may be heading for the deepest investigation of its practices since a congressional panel’s probe of abuses following the 1929 stock market crash.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to push for a comprehensive inquiry, saying that three-quarters of Americans want to know what led to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. She favors one patterned after Senate Banking Committee hearings led by Ferdinand Pecora starting in 1933, according to her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami.

The Pecora review “was probably the single most important congressional investigation in the history of our country, except perhaps the Watergate hearings,” Donald Ritchie, associate historian for the U.S. Senate, said in an interview.

Congress is reacting to an economic collapse that has generated $1.3 trillion in financial industry losses, $700 billion in U.S. taxpayer cash infusions and loans, and $37 trillion in destroyed world stock market value since 2007. The Pecora Commission generated public support for creating the Securities and Exchange Commission and laws that governed financial services for seven decades.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, will speak about hearings this week to lawmakers, including Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the panel that writes banking law, Elshami said.

“I think it’s useful to have it, but that should not be a reason to hold off on legislating,” Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said of Pelosi’s proposal after a speech in Washington yesterday.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aX8OXwhcJXVU

[redqueen]

1. Oh this could be good...

dare I hope?

[Toucano]

2. Pointless.

We already know what happened and who is to blame.

What will be gained by a dog and pony show?

[Fireweed247]

3. maybe she should read this

Amazing how this “Bailout” parallels the “Banking Crisis” in 1907. JP Morgan caused a run on banks, which then allowed him to scoop up lots of other banks at bargain prices… and 100 years later we have:

* JP Morgan buys Washington Mutual for Pennies
* JP Morgan buys Bear Stearns for almost nothing
* JP Morgan Accused of Bringing Down Lehman
* Naked Short Sales Hint Fraud in Bringing Down Lehman
* Get ready for a wave of bank failures
* And of course this choice quote from a JP Morgan rep last year on what they’re going to do with their $25 Billion bailout,

“What we do think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling.

http://angrymob101.wordpress.com/