Politics and the Financial Meltdown

Congress established the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in May of 2009 to conduct a bipartisan investigation into the financial and economic crisis. Yesterday, the FCIC issued its final report which concluded that the financial meltdown was "avoidable—the result of human actions, inactions, and misjudgments." It is no surprise that the Commission split along party lines in what commentators describe as routine partisan bickering. All of the Democrat members supported the final report, while the Republican members wrote dissenting reports. At least for now, the political drama threatens to overshadow the substantive work of the Commission. The report, the dissents, and background materials are available on the FCIC web site http://fcic.gov.