When the farmer throws out the corn, the pigs run to the trough. That's what's happening in American politics today. Wall Street is throwing out the coin and the politicians are scurrying to grab it up.

John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have sensed an opportunity. By staking out pro-Wall Street and anti-Main Street positions against financial regulatory reform, they know they have positioned themselves in the right place to maximize their ability to grab up that Wall Street coin. The WSJ observes:

Republicans are stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street, trying to capitalize on an increasing sense of regret among executives at big financial institutions for backing Democrats in 2008.

In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks' best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street.

GOP strategists hope to benefit from the reaction to the White House's populist rhetoric and proposals, which range from sharp critiques of bonuses to a tax on big Wall Street banks, caps on executive pay and curbs on business practices deemed too risky.

Wall Street knows where their bread is buttered. Many of them are against real reform because they know their profits are at stake. So, they're investing in the Republican Party to stop real reform. Read the story and find out where Wall Street is investing to scuttle reform.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission will meet on January 13 and 14 in Washington, DC in their first investigative hearings of the year. The media is reporting today that the Commission will bring high profile witnesses to the hearing.

From Dow Jones today,

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. chief executive Jamie Dimon, Bank of America Corp. chief executive Brian Moynihan, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair are expected to be among those testifying at the two days of hearings next week.

Panel chairman Phil Angelides, a Democrat, and vice chairman Bill Thomas, a Republican, said they also planned to bring Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to testify under oath later this year.

The Commission has a website now and will reportedly webcast their proceedings.

The policies Doug Hoffman supports created America’s financial crisis. That's the message of Accountable America's new TV ad on the air starting this week in the 23rd district of New York.

Hoffman is the darling of the Club for Growth, the right-wing group funded by some of Wall Street's biggest fat cats. The Club for Growth’s agenda boils down to one idea: stop consumer protections in the name of “deregulation.”

They don’t want to see the Financial Truth Commission "name names" and hold people accountable like the 9/11 Commission. That is why many of the Club for Growth’s biggest supporters voted against setting up the Commission.

Doug Hoffman has yet to call for tough investigations into the banks who created the financial crisis. Nor has he called for new regulations to protect consumers and end corporate greed. Hoffman doesn’t want to upset his Wall Street friends, so, he's singing their tune by supporting Bush-style tax cuts and deregulation designed to help the richest banks.

In a new ad airing in New York's 23rd District this weekend, Accountable America exposes Doug Hoffman’s Wall Street agenda. Check out the ad and, if you like what you see, make a contribution to support work like this ad.

The New York Times reports on a story about a New York judge who wiped away the mortgage debt of a homeowner after the bank failed to prove their claim.

One surprising smackdown occurred on Oct. 9 in federal bankruptcy
court in the Southern District of New York. Ruling that a lender, PHH
Mortgage, hadn’t proved its claim to a delinquent borrower’s home in
White Plains, Judge Robert D. Drain wiped out a $461,263 mortgage debt
on the property. That’s right: the mortgage debt disappeared, via a court order.

So the ruling may put a new dynamic in play in the foreclosure mess:
If the lender can’t come forward with proof of ownership, and judges
don’t look kindly on that, then borrowers may have a stronger hand to
play in court and, apparently, may even be able to stay in their homes
mortgage-free.

It seems that in all the tumult of the foreclosure crisis that a lot of banks haven't been playing by the rules. 

It begins. The first public meeting of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission kicks off today and the media is finally taking notice.

• The Washington Independent takes a look at the commission members and wonders if they're interested in sweeping reforms.
• The Los Angeles Times is concerned that pesky 'partisanship' might get in the way of justice.
• American Banker predicts that the commission will "gain more importance as regulatory reform stalls on Capitol Hill."
• Portfolio.com is already disappointed in the Commission writing, "Angelides assured Reuters that "he's no Ferdinand Pecora." Too bad."

Will the Commission turn out to be a lion or a lamb? Main Street needs a lion. We need this Commission to expose the excess, the fraud and the abuse at the heart of the financial system.

The Pecora Commission resulted in sweeping reforms that protected consumers for decades. It can happen again, but, only if the Commission puts the public interest first.

America's been ripped off. It's time for answers and reform so that this crisis doesn't happen again.