The original Pecora Commission (1932-1934) hammered home the lessons of the Great Depression, and gave us about 40 years of economic stability until its landmark legislation was dismantled in the later years of the Clinton administration.

With little fanfare, a new commission was named recently, titled the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC).
The Democratic members of Congress have been selected, and the Republicans have been named as well. The main remaining task before the FCIC can begin its work is to to hire a strong lead investigator.

The NYT recently wrote an editorial, "The Financial Truth Commission," that called on the new FCIC to hire a strong lead investigator, to refuse to let partisan politics hamstring the Commission, and to afford no special treatment to those in finance or the government. The Times editorial echoes the demands laid out in a Roosevelt Institute open letter signed by Nobel Prize winning economist Joe Stiglitz, a number of prominent historians and scholars, as well as more than 400 concerned Americans. The Commission is set to start meeting after Labor Day.

The commission is being greeted with abundant skepticism. The original Pecora commission did not achieve very much at first. According to the wikipedia, two chief counsels were fired for ineffectiveness, and a third resigned after the committee refused to give him broad subpoena power. Pecora was the fourth chief counsel who was initially hired just to write the final report. The wikipedia continued,

Discovering that the investigation was incomplete, Pecora requested permission to hold an additional month of hearings. His expose of the National City Bank (now Citibank) made banner headlines and caused the bank’s president to resign. Democrats had won the majority in the Senate, and the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged the new Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Duncan U. Fletcher, to let Pecora continue the probe. So actively did Pecora pursue the investigation that his name became publicly identified with it, rather than the committee’s chairman.

It is heartening to see the NYT supporting a strong investigation. Reading the entire editorial is strongly recommended. In addition, the Roosevelt Institute is backing a strong approach, with an article by William K. Black, Roosevelt Institute Braintruster, on How to Create a Successful Pecora Investigation, and another by Andrew Rich, President and CEO, Roosevelt Institute, on "Summoning the Ghost of Pecora." They also provide a more skeptical point of view by Joe Conason, wondering whether these are merely Pelosi’s Toothless Watchdogs. Indeed, the whole Roosevelt Institute project is billed as "New Deal 2.0."

What will help this new commission, I think, is lots of attention– especially from people like us and the "Braintrusters" at the Roosevelt Institute. We must not accept any mush-mouthed "report." We must demand that the commissioners do the work required by this historic situation. I feel confident that the Roosevelt Institute will help us keep an eye on this commission, and they are presently inviting comments on their articles. Let’s give’em some encouragement, and nip at their heels a little!

Update:
Here’s how to give the commission some encouragement: Sign the Roosevelt Institute Petition.

Bob in HI