“Our current cronyism is not the property of one political party or the other. As with any cancer, it does not care who it attacks or where it spreads. In the process of unearthing and exposing these crony Wall Street- Washington paths, we have come to learn that large numbers from both political parties, their well-heeled financial benefactors, and many of our financial regulators, all sit on one side of the table while the general investing, consuming, and taxpaying public — along with a large percentage of Wall Street’s own employees — sit on the other.”

page 187, In Bed with Wall Street: The Conspiracy Crippling Our Global Economy

A full 6 years from the onset of our ongoing economic crisis, I remain convinced that our nation’s markets and economy remain burdened by the cancer that metatstatized from the corrupt Wall Street-Washington dynamic.

I stated as much in my book as quoted above.

Many have asked me if the current crisis was not enough to excise this cancer what might it take. Another crisis? 

Sad to say, yes.

Not if but when we get another market meltdown might those within the media, public office, and regulatory system begin to truly uphold their mandate to protect the public interest rather than simply providing cover and/or benefiting as they enable the current cancer to spread.

If only our nation had an individual with the courage and fortitude of Pope Francis who took the scalpel out so as to aggressively cut the cancer that had infiltrated the operations of the Vatican Bank.

Wishful thinking on my part? Perhaps. Oversimplifying the situation? Perhaps.

I can hear critics of my commentary saying that comparing the largely unilateral powers possessed by Pope Francis to the balance of powers here in the US makes for a bad analogy.

Yet what is the main point of my referencing Pope Francis and his work as detailed by the FT, Pope Cuts Scandal-Prone Vatican Bank Down to Size.

LEADERSHIP!!

I strongly maintain that our nation lacks the real leadership necessary to address the corruption that remains rife within our financial-political-regulatory menage-a-trois. When those who benefit from maintaining a status quo are charged with reforming it, little of meaningful substance will change.

Dodd-Frank was not and is not the answer.

Who within the halls of power consistently stands up and speaks out against the cancerous corruption that remains so prevalent? Some credit should accrue to Senator Elizabeth Warren but aside from her, is there really anybody else who is willing to speak the truth in forceful fashion regardless of the professional price attached?

Anybody . . . anybody . . . Bueller?

It strikes me that the standards set and allowed both on Wall Street and in Washington are so low as to be pathetic. We all pay a very steep price in the process.

- See more at: http://www.senseoncents.com/2014/07/will-it-take-another-crisis-for-real-reform/#sthash.nDfX8taA.dpuf