Reply #26: Wall Street's Collapse to Be Mystery Forever

[Octafish]

The heart of the matter is one dark place...

Wall Street's Collapse to Be Mystery Forever

By Jonathan Weil - Jan 27, 2011 9:00 PM ET
Bloomberg.com

To get to the heart of what went wrong with the report released yesterday by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, check out its account on page 254 of how the largest investor in a cash fund managed by Bank of America suddenly pulled out $20 billion of its money in November 2007.

SNIP...

And here I had thought the purpose of the commission’s inquiry was to uncover new facts that the public didn’t already know. Such as: The identity of the mystery investor that single- handedly kneecapped Bank of America’s Columbia Strategic Cash Portfolio, once the largest cash fund of its kind in the U.S. The commission had subpoena power. It should have been able to get this information. It didn’t, though.

This, in journalistic parlance, is what we call a clip job. And that’s the trouble with much of the commission’s 545-page report. There’s lots of breezy, magazine-style, narrative prose. But there’s not much new information.

SNIP...

Predictable Failure

The FCIC’s failure was predictable from the start. To examine the causes of the financial crisis, Congress created a bipartisan panel of 10 political appointees led by Democrat Phil Angelides, a former California state treasurer. What was needed was a nonpartisan investigation directed by seasoned prosecutors (like Pecora was) who know how to cross-examine witnesses and get answers.

Whereas Pecora had no fixed deadline, Congress gave the crisis commission until December 2010 to complete its inquiry. Witnesses who didn’t want to cooperate fully could simply milk the clock. The panel got a budget of less than $10 million to investigate all the causes of the financial crisis. Lehman’s bankruptcy examiner got $42 million to produce a 2,200-page report on the failure of a single company.

CONTINUED...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-28/wall-street-s-collapse-to-be-mystery-forever-commentary-by-jonathan-weil.html

Like mints and minds, he who runs the mine gets the gold. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. The suits leave office. The officials put on suits. And We the People get the shaft.