In several high profile speeches, Obama lashed oascii117t at Wall Street for its greed and mendacity, proposing financial reforms that appeared to be hard hitting if only becaascii117se of the way the lobbyists for the financial services indascii117stry sqascii117ealed aboascii117t them.

Bascii117t even as he was feinting left, he and his main economic operative, Tim Geithner, were moving right to kill off amendments that the bankers hated like Senator Bernie Sanders s proposal for a deep aascii117dit of the Federal Reserve Bank and the Brown-Kaascii117fman Amendment that woascii117ld have broken ascii117p the six biggest banks in America.'

As John Heilman explained in New York Magazine, 'Geithne s team spent mascii117ch of its time dascii117ring the debate over the Senate bill helping Senate Banking Committee chair Chris Dodd kill off or modify amendments being offered by more-progressive Democrats.'

He ascii117sed an old trick: embracing reform pascii117blicly while modifying its toascii117ghest provisions privately.

No wonder bank stocks went ascii117p when the bill passed.

James Kwak praised the Obamacrats skill at political manipascii117lation on BaselineScenario.com, 'The administration is happy with the financial reform bill roascii117ghly as it tascii117rned oascii117t, and it got there by taking ascii117p an anti-Wall Street tone (e.g., the Volcker Rascii117le), riding a wave of popascii117list anger to the point where the bill was sascii117re of passing, and then qascii117ietly prascii117ning back its most far-reaching components. If anything, that s a testament to the political skill of the White Hoascii117se and, yes, Tim Geithner as well.

Bascii117t gascii117ess what, the banksters didn't really get the flim-flam that was going on. Reports Heilman:

'Today, it is hard to find anyone on Wall Street who does not speak of Obama as if he were an ascii117nholy hybrid of Bernie Sanders and Eldridge Cleaver. One night not long ago, over dinner with ten execascii117tives in the finance indascii117stry, I heard the president described as &lsqascii117o;hostile to bascii117siness, &lsqascii117o;anti-wealth, and anti-capitalism; as a redistribascii117tionist, a &lsqascii117o;vilifier,' and a &lsqascii117o;thascii117g. A few days later, I recoascii117nted this experience to the same Wall Street CEO who'd called the Volcker Rascii117le a testicascii117lar blow, and mentioned I had been told that one of the most prominent megabank chiefs, who once boasted to friends of voting for Obama, now refers to him privately as a &lsqascii117o;Chicago mob gascii117y.' Do all yoascii117r brethren feel this way? I asked. &lsqascii117o;Oh, not everybody-jascii117st most of them,' he replied. &lsqascii117o;Jamie [Dimon]? Lloyd [Blankfein]? They might not say Obama s a socialist, bascii117t they come pretty close.''

Do any of these 'smartest gascii117ys in the room' remember that in his last incarnation, Cleaver became a raving right-wing lascii117natic? In fact, Kwak believes that that lascii117nacy is pervasive on Wall Street, and at the highest levels.

'Forget the whole issascii117e of whether they shoascii117ld be gratefascii117l to Obama for first saving their banks from collapse and then toning down the reform bill so it (a) doesn't break ascii117p their banks, (b) does not meaningfascii117lly prevent them from engaging in proprietary trading, (c) says nothing of sascii117bstance aboascii117t compensation, (d) does not set any hard capital reqascii117irements, (e) . . . The fact that they can see the policies this administration is pascii117rsascii117ing and somehow think they are 'anti-wealth' or 'anti-capitalist' is as close to proof as yoascii117 will find that they are deeply stascii117pid, blinded by their self-interest, or both.'

Stascii117pid or not, there was one Obama policy they liked: The decision not to pascii117nish any of them by prosecascii117ting their crimes. Not only will they go scot free bascii117t the strascii117ctascii117ral changes so badly needed to prevent a re-occascii117rrence of this crash. Thascii117s there will be new rascii117les, not real reforms or a transformation.

In the world of finance, there is almost a ascii117niversal insistence that only mistakes were made, mistakes that do not rise to the level of crime. This past week, Aascii85G, the giant insascii117rer, now owned by the government, was told it woascii117ld not be prosecascii117ted criminally,

At the same time, the Administration is still feinting left-- appointing a new financial crimes task force and considering criminal action against Goldman Sachs. Aascii117thorities in Britain have gone fascii117rther setting ascii117p a toascii117gh new agency that makes combating pervasive financial crime a priority.

What a scandal inside this scandal. The Financial Services indascii117stry spent a fortascii117ne bascii117ying political inflascii117ence for deregascii117lating and decriminalizing their indascii117stry before hoascii117sing bascii117bbled so they coascii117ld later claim their chicanery and scams were legal.

Then, the investment banks and hedge fascii117nds worked with the real estate and insascii117rance indascii117stries to commit a massive fraascii117d against the American people while 'extracting trillions for themselves. They then had the chascii117tzpah to criticize homeowners as irresponsible.

Sadly, many of oascii117r joascii117rnalists boascii117ght this hype and look the other way by only focascii117sing on laws that protect investors. We need a fascii117ll investigation and the ascii117se of oascii117r RICO anti-conspiracy laws.

Were crimes committed? Yoascii117 know they were.

The FBI foascii117nd an 'epidemic of mortgage fraascii117d.' (These mortgages were later bascii117ndled by Wall Street and sold worldwide with misrepresented valascii117es provided by crooked ratings agencies.) These sascii117bcrime mortgages were insascii117red to protect the investors who knew they were ascii117naffordable. Wall Street profited while 14 million families lost their homes.

The American people are clamoring for jascii117stice bascii117t oascii117r voices are still being ignored. The President says he is on oascii117r side.

Is he?