State Rep. Tom Jackson of Alabama Introduces Pecora Commission Legislation

The State of Alabama House of Representatives

HJR118
By Representative Tom Jackson of Alabama
First Read: 12-FEB-09

URGING THE U.S. CONGRESS TO HOLD HEARINGS INTO THE ABUSES BY THE WALL STREET FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

WHEREAS, the international financial crisis has been growing worse over the past year, despite official Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, and Congressional bailouts. According to Bloomberg News, over $8 trillion has been loaned or injected into the banks in the past year, and now they are clamoring for a new $1 trillion bailout, in the form of a "Bad Bank" or "Nationalization"; and

WHEREAS, money given to the banks has failed to be loaned into the community for business or personal investment, and instead has been used for bonuses, stockholder payouts, or fraudulent schemes; and

WHEREAS, enormous financial schemes have been discovered, such as the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, the Henry Paulson bailout of bankrupt banks and investment houses such as Goldman Sachs, the bailout of AIG and GMAC, and the mammoth mortgage lending scandals; and

WHEREAS, in 1932-33 the U.S. Senate Banking Committee held hearings into similar kinds of financial fraud that led to the Great Depression. These hearings were conducted by New York Assistant District Attorney Ferdinand Pecora, who was hired by the Senate Banking Committee, and included the months long grilling of all top Wall Street bankers and brokers; and

WHEREAS, these Pecora Commission Hearings led to the incarceration of the president of the New York Stock Exchange and the humiliation of the Wall Street syndicates, thus allowing the federal regulation of the banks; and

WHEREAS, economist Lyndon LaRouche, Jr., has called for Congress to immediately convene hearings into the current financial crisis, which would be modeled on the Pecora Commission of 1932-33. This call by Mr. LaRouche has been echoed by prominent historian Ron Chernow in an op-ed in the New York Times and by New York Times editorial writer Frank Rich, both of whom said that new hearings were in order; now therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That the Alabama House of Representatives hereby calls upon the Congress of the United States to convene hearings immediately into the abuses by the Wall Street financial institutions over the past several years.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That calls for Congress to include in this New Pecora Commission an investigation into all forms of financial impropriety including the Madoff affair, the Predatory Lending scheme, the multi-trillion dollar bailouts of Wall Street banks and investment companies, including the bailout of AIG, GMAC, and other financially bankrupt institutions. We urge that this hearing be convened immediately, lest more bailouts and schemes occur.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the entire delegation of the Alabama members of the U.S. Congress and the President of the United States.