US panel’s report reflects partisan rift

[ProSense]

Source: Financial Times

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Rather than draw a line under the traumatic events of 2008, the publication of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s report last week – whose culprits include regulators, politicians, Wall Street banks and credit rating agencies – has given rise to a fresh partisan rift over its procedures and findings.

Monday is the deadline set by Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House oversight committee, for Phil Angelides, chairman of the commission, to provide financial information and e-mail records to allow a congressional investigation of the investigators.

Mr Issa says he wants to check that taxpayers got value for money in the investigation and to examine any potential conflicts of interest, the high staff turnover, requests for more funding and the breakdown in relations between Republicans and Democrats.

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Rancour over the report itself crystallised when the four Republican and six Democratic commissioners split into three groups over the conclusions, depriving the country of the consensus that was reached by the Warren Commission into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the 9/11 Commission into the 2001 terrorist attacks.


Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1d46933a-2ca7-11e0-83bd-00144feab49a.html#axzz1CcQ3xwpc

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Krugman: Inquiry and Intimidation

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It’s absurd, of course: a tiny commission with a small budget didn’t offer much scope for corruption.

But what this is really about is intimidation — in much the same way that investigations of climate scientists are about intimidation.

What the GOP wants is to make people afraid even to do research that produces conclusions they don’t like. And they don’t stop at trying to undermine the research — they go after the researchers personally. The goal is to create an environment in which analysts and academics are afraid to look into things like financial-industry malfeasance or climate change, for fear that some subcommittee will either dig up or invent dirt about their private lives.

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[Roy Rolling]

1. Welcome

Welcome to the Spanish Inquisition, Republican-style.