Wanted: Untouchables

The old untouchables were the Federal good guy agents led by Eliot Ness in 1929 who waged a war against organized crime led by Al Capone of Chicago. The Eliot Ness folks were dubbed the untouchables because they were incorruptible. They were beyond bribery and undeterred by bullets.
Today, we have another menace that threatens the entire country, not just Chicago. It is the small group of the largest banks that brought our economy to its knees in the past two years and who continue to flaunt their own sense of imperviousness to accountability. They indulge in lavish bonuses for their top guns at the expense of the common taxpayer.
Like Capone, Wall Street has traded in toxic assets and operated above the law. In Capone’s time, he simply broke the law and traded in toxic assets called liquor, while ignoring Prohibition. Wall Street dealt in toxic assets that were bundled into derivatives which were traded outside the scope of the law. There were no regulations protecting the public from derivatives. Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs, was quoted as saying that his firm was “doing God’s work.” Al Capone, I am sure, was seen as a Godfather figure. However, Capone never asked the government for bail let alone a bailout.
Unlike Capone, Wall Street sees no government agency or government leader capable of challenging its self-indulgence because it has brethren carefully planted across the spectrum of government power that might, under less corrupt circumstances, exercise reform. Unfortunately there is nary a politician in Washington who has not benefitted from Wall Street’s campaign contributions, thanks to the lack of any real self-imposed campaign finance reform. Therefore, there is no eager Eliot Ness who might be commissioned by the federal government to regulate Wall Street. There appear to be no “untouchables” or even potential “untouchables” on the horizon. Or perhaps there are.
Another Eliot, Eliot Spitzer, once wielded a heavy sword on Wall Street as New York Attorney General, but unfortunately he had an Achilles heel attached to another appendage. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut A.G. who appears to have no hidden weaknesses, is now a candidate for the Senate replacing Chris Dodd who is “retiring.” Perhaps Blumenthal can step up and lead the reform effort, but we would have to wait until next year, and that will be too late to prevent the next cloudy bubble rising over Wall Street.
The current attorney general of the United States, Eric Holder, has yet to play his hand, if he legally has any cards to play. Perhaps he will find a way to bring Wall Street to justice and relieve America of the rage it feels toward Wall Street and government alike, both symbols of callous self-indulgence, capitalism at its worst, corruption, and complicity.
In any case, America needs a new generation of untouchables to come along and clean up the brazen disregard of what government and capitalism are meant to serve: namely, the people, not the Capones or the Wall Street Cojones.
The American people are not helpless in pursuing reform. They can become one gigantic group of untouchables themselves, and they can start by making three very effective moves:
1. Remove all investments and deposits connected with the large and culpable banks. Tear up credit cards connected with same.
2. Write current senators and representatives and tell them you want to see substantial and real reform of Wall Street before June, 2010.
3. From now on the people should elect only politicians who refuse corporate donations to their campaigns.
Tea Party folks take note: Given the size and power of the corporations, small government is the last thing you actually want first. What America needs first is actual representative government, which means “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The only way that can happen is if we the people actually fund their campaigns instead of leaving it to the Wall Street or corporate machine.