Drums of Reform

Hear the voice of the people now moving to a different beat. “Reform, damnit! Reform or else!” Bernie Sanders is the man with the cause and Donald Trump is the man with the mood. The exploited natives are restless, and the establishment ignores them at its peril. Here is a shout out to Isaiah J. Poole for his ourfuture.org article, “Whistleblowers Challenge Candidates To Stand Against Wall Street Fraud.” Although he does not put it this way, Mr. Poole draws our attention to what could become a major headache for Hillary Clinton:

“Four people who have been at the center of some of the nation’s biggest Wall Street scandals have come together to send a message to the 2016 presidential candidates: Pledge to stand against Wall Street fraud and corruption – not just with words, but with the kind of actions that Americans have long expected but have yet to see.

The four veterans of battles with banksters – Gary J. Aguirre, William K. Black, Richard M. Bowen III and Michael Winston – on Thursday called on the candidates to not take contributions from financial companies or officers that have been charged with fraud, particularly related to the 2008 financial meltdown. They have also outlined a set of actions that they say will “restore the rule of law” on Wall Street. They have formed a new organization, Bank Whistleblowers United, to move that agenda forward.”

In the announcement of Whistleblowers Group's Initial Proposals Mr. William Black said:

“We [ Gary J. Aguirre, William K. Black, Richard M. Bowen III and Michael Winston] are all from the general field of finance and we are all whistleblowers who are unemployable in finance and financial regulation because we spoke truth to power and committed the one unforgivable sin in finance and in Washington, D.C. – being repeatedly proved correct when the powerful are repeatedly proved wrong.”

The price each of those gentlemen paid for reporting fraud and abuse adds a sense of urgency to their discussion of the fraud and abuse they found, their challenge to Presidential candidates, and their proposed remedies. The truth must not be buried and the abuses and frauds most not go unpunished. As the Whistleblowers point out:

“Not a single one of those elite bankers who led the fraud epidemics has been prosecuted and only one, a woman who was only moderately senior, has been held personally accountable in any meaningful way through a civil suit (made possible by a whistleblower). This is the greatest strategic failure of the DOJ in recent history.
• The SEC has also proven ineffective in holding the elite Wall Street bankers who led these fraud epidemics personally accountable. As with DOJ, one of the fundamental problems that has gotten worse is the “revolving door.” We propose a practical means of reducing that problem.
• Dodd-Frank has not fixed the gaping problems endemic to finance that will cause future epidemics of elite financial fraud and resultant global crises.
• We know how to identify developing fraud epidemics before they hyper-inflate financial bubbles, how to prevent or at least greatly reduce such epidemics, and how to prosecute effectively the elite banksters. Our group includes former regulators who demonstrated each of these abilities. What we need is the political will to make the vital changes in the face of fierce opposition from the elite banksters. That will is sapped by the revolving door.”
  
  
What makes the Whistleblowers announcement so valuable are the remedies the group proposes in its 60 day plan. I urge you to click on Whistleblowers to see the plan, and to join the whistleblowers in asking:


“...each presidential candidate – which portions of the Whistleblowers’ 60-Day plan will you pledge to implement? We hope the candidates will commit to breaking Wall Street’s power over our economy and democracy. The Whistleblowers’ 60-Day plan provides any candidate with the practical steps necessary to make real the twin goals of restoring the rule of law to Wall Street and ending crony capitalism.”


As Mr. Poole points out Bernie Sanders has already refused contributions from Wall Street, whereas Hillary Clinton is still accepting contributions from Wall Street. Being challenged to endorse or reject the recommendations of the Whistleblowers is bound to increase Hillary's headaches, but she is either with us or with the system that permits the fraud and abuse. She cannot have it both ways. I am also urging Bernie to reply to the Whistleblowers! His endorsement of many of those recommendations and the Whistleblowers recommendation of him would be good.

Do not even bother with the Republicans; their candidates are hopeless, including that bloviating bundle of inflated ego called Trump!  Trump will give the world the finger for you, but he will not lend you a hand; well maybe he will if you agree to usurious interest fees.