The overall U.S. unemployment rate is 10%. For professionals, this rate  was 4.4%. For architects 20%. The construction industry is also 20%. This rate varies by states and communities. For example,  Minnesota architects, according to the local chapter of the AIA, the rate is over 40%.  It is no coincidence that multi-family starts are the lowest in 40 years.  Much risk must be taken out of the development process to give the lenders the confidence to finance real estate development.

A TRIPLE WHAMMY

Most architects work is provided by public bodies or building developers. With most State and local governments suffering huge deficits, there is a scarcity of public work. Because  developers are starved for available financing for private real estate development, there is a scarcity of private work. The Stimulus Program was Congress and the Administration’s answer to this horrible economic collapse. This much heralded Federal Stimulus Funds were scheduled for developments that were “shovel ready”. This law was passed and funded a year ago. Based on the present unemployment rates for architects and construction workers, it would appear that the stimulus funds have not impacted these fields.  I  would guess that most of the stimulus funds spent to date went for operational costs not capital costs. To pay for operational deficits of state and local governments, not the building of “shovel ready” developments. What will happen next with the remaining stimulus funds is everybody’s guess.

HELP FOR THE DESIGN AND BUILDING PROCESS

New BIM (building information modeling) technologies have begun to replace traditional drafting with three-dimensional modeling. With the development of the Building Information Modeling (BIM), the increasing role of contractors, material suppliers, and owners will have a larger impact on a building’s evolution.  Will this lower the importance of architects in the design of buildings?  This is heralded as a saver of development time and cost. To take advantage of this new technology, everybody in the development process must be skilled in this BIM process.  Getting up to speed presents a major obstacle, as software and training can be prohibitively expensive. There must be a massive program to bring the development community up to speed on BIM at an affordable cost. The community benefit of developing  better designed and less costly buildings will be getting our economy up to speed.

Architecture — and design in general — is about problem-solving.  There may be a  tremendous opportunity in pushing “a more holistic view of design,” in solving a broader pool of problems that might expand the client base beyond building developers.  It’s not necessarily just designing things that are physical. It’s designing programs, solutions that can be social or environmental. For example, a community program can he developed in that focuses on reducing energy consumption. As architects learn to more broadly apply their trade, new economic opportunities will emerge.

In an earlier edition of this blog, I told about the warning to architects in Progressive Architecture written some 40 years ago. This concerned construction managers replacing architects as the “master builder”. How many “clerk of the works” do you see on construction jobs today? The role of the clerk of the works is primarily to represent the interests of the owner in regard to ensuring that the quality of both materials and workmanship are in accordance with the design information such as plans, specification and engineering drawings, in addition to enforcing quality standards. This was done by the clerk of the works for over 600 years. The only group that has liability for not attaining these goals is the architect. These substitutes for the architect in representing the owner’s interest during the construction only add an additional layer of bureaucracy. This wastes time and money with no added responsibility.  Put this role where the liability is and where the best knowledge of the plans and specifications are- with the architect.

A building is an economic entity whose goals are to take care of unmet user’s need, provide a public benefit, and meet the economic goals of the lenders and investors.

1. To meet the user’s needs. the quality and quantity of the space must adhere to the plans and specs.

2. To meet the public need , the buildings must adhere to all zoning and building codes.

3, The lenders and investors goals are the building is constructed  for the budget within the scheduled time.

The standard construction contract published by the AIA makes the architect the determiner of #1.

The local authority provides for With  #2.

The contractor signs a contract for #3. By virtue of this contract, the contractor can ask for a change order because of unforeseen events, inconsistencies between inn the plans, spec or between the two. The BIM shall eliminate many of these.  With the BIM, much improved early estimates of job cost, will have more buildings built within budget.

The architect designs the development based on the economic goals developed by the developer. What is the best answer to have the development these goals.?

Through an integrated project delivery method, owners, designers, and builders can move toward unified models and improved design, construction, and operations processes.  In response to increasing owner demand, architects, engineers, construction managers, contractors, and specialty disciplines are forming strategic alliances and working in new and innovative ways.  The use of integrated project delivery and Building Information Modeling (BIM) will advance integration of the design and construction processes, allowing greater predictability of project outcomes.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a new approach to design, construction, and facility management in which a digital representation of the building process is used to facilitate the exchange and interoperability of information in digital format. BIM is beginning to change the way buildings look, the way they function, and the ways in which they are designed and built. BIM can avoid the damage caused by  many variances between specifications and drawings and also between pages of  a set of drawings

Building information modeling covers geometry, spatial relationships, light analysis, geographic information, quantities and properties of building components (for example manufacturers’ details). BIM can be used to demonstrate the entire building life cycle, including the processes of construction and facility operation. Quantities and shared properties of materials can be extracted easily. Scopes of work can be isolated and defined. Systems, assemblies and sequences can be shown in a relative scale with the entire facility or group of facilities. Which specification is the most economical over the building’s life cycle?

BIM goes far beyond switching to a new software. It requires changes to the definition of traditional architectural phases and more data sharing than most architects and engineers are used to.

BIM is able to achieve such improvements by modeling representations of the actual parts and pieces being used to build a building. This is a substantial shift from the traditional computer aided drafting method of drawing with vector file-based lines that combine to represent objects.

The interoperability requirements of construction documents include the drawings, procurement details, environmental conditions, submittal processes and other specifications for building quality. It is anticipated by proponents that BIM can be utilized to bridge the information loss associated with handing a project from design team, to construction team and to building owner/operator, by allowing each group to add to and reference back to all information they acquire during their period of contribution to the BIM model. For example, a building owner may find evidence of a leak in his building. Rather than exploring the physical building, he may turn to his BIM and see that a water valve is located in the suspect location. He could also have in the model the specific valve size, manufacturer, part number, and any other information ever researched in the past, pending adequate computing power.

Definitions of Interoperability

Interoperability is viewed with both a narrow and broad perspective by the construction industry. From a purely technology-based view, interoperability is the ability to manage and communicate electronic product and project data among collaborating firms.

However, many build team members also see interoperability at a cultural level. Beyond the technology, interoperability is often defined as the ability to implement and manage collaborative relationships among members of cross-disciplinary build teams that enables integrated project execution.

These perspectives are interrelated and can be symbiotic. Interoperability of technology enables efficiency at a practice level. If all members of a build team can freely exchange data across different applications and platforms, every member of the team can better integrate the project delivery. Many firms are already moving toward more collaborative teams, especially with the expanded use of design-assist and design-build on projects. As teams become more integrated, they are increasingly demanding technology solutions that benefit those relationships.

Definitions of BIM

Like interoperability, Building Information Modeling (BIM) can be defined from both a technology and process point of view. The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) in its National BIM Standard defines BIM as “a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its lifecycle from inception onward.” This database contains the physical and function- al characteristics of a structure composed of intelligent objects rather than lines, arcs, and text. BIM can render multiple views of data including 2D drawings, lists, text, 3D images, animation, as well as elements of time/scheduling (4D) and cost (5D).

As noted above, BIM is also a way to share data throughout the entire lifecycle of the structure. This data can include the initial design data; geospatial information; financial and legal data; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) layout; building product specifications, environmental and energy modeling results; and other information that can be used collaboratively by architect, engineer, contractor, and owner (AEC/O) professionals during the project life cycle and by facilities managers after the project is completed.

BIM and Interoperability

Factors Influencing the Use of BIM

Interoperability issues are gaining attention with increased use of BIM. In addition to using BIM to create 3D design, these models are a rich database of the physical and functional characteristics of a facility. In order to optimize the use of BIM, it is critical that much of this BIM data be shared between build team members. As a result, interoperability of

68% Less Time Drafting More Time Designing

49% of Owners Demanding It On Their Projects

technology is an important factor. Re-entering data from a BIM into another application or platform used by the build team creates wasteful and costly duplication

BIM’s Ability to Improve Communication with Clients/Others in Design and Construction Process

Parametric

Modification of Designs With BIM

Opportunity to Reduce Construction Costs

Improved Interoperability

Reduced Number/Need for Information Requests

Improved Document Version Control

Improved Budgeting/Cost

Opportunity to Reduce Construction Time

Clash Detection Capabilities of BIM Tools

Reducing Insurance Claim

Because of BIM

Improved Scheduling Capabilities with BIM Tools

Compliance Code Checking

Safer Worksites Because of BIM

BIM is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such, it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility, forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life- cycle from inception onward.

A basic premise of BIM is collaboration by different stakeholders at different phases of the life cycle of a facility to insert, extract, update or modify information in the BIM to support and reflect the roles of that stakeholder. The BIM is a shared digital representation founded on open standards for interoperability.

The U.S. National BIM Standard promotes the business requirement that this model be interoperable based on open standards.Integrated Practice/Integrated Project Delivery (IP/IPD) leverages early contributions of knowledge and expertise through the utilization of new technologies, allowing all team members to better realize their highest potentials while expanding the value they provide throughout the project life cycle.

Through an integrated project delivery method, owners, designers, and builders can move toward unified models and improved design, construction, and operations processes.

Productivity

Productivity levels within the construction industry have been a source of intense debate in recent years. As construction values have risen to record–high levels, productivity within the industry has come under scrutiny. Paul Teicholz, Ph.D., of Stanford University suggests that while overall industrial productivity has significantly increased in the United States, construction industry productivity is on the decline. Teicholtz claims that while total non-farm productivity more than doubled between 1964 and 2004, construction productivity dropped by nearly 20% during that time.

Impact of Interoperability on Productivity

Associated with concerns about productivity, owners and industry groups are troubled by the level of waste resulting from a lack of interoperability. The industry generally perceives lack of interoperability as an impediment to improving productivity.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, www.nist.org) set off alarms about the issue in 2004, estimating that lack of interoperability costs the U.S. capital facilities market—including commercial, institutional and industrial—facilities $15.6 billion per year. On a global basis, that would equal more than $60 billion. The study estimated that between 0.86% and 1.24% of construction spending is directly related to inadequate interoperability. Owners bore nearly two-thirds of those costs.

The industry perceives that the problem is much greater than the NIST study suggests. On average, build team members surveyed for this report estimate that about 3% of project costs are related to software non-interoperability. Within today’s $1.2 trillion U.S. construction market, which represents all construction sectors, such an estimate would equate to $36 billion in annual waste. In the $4.6 trillion global market, that would extrapolate to $138 billion.

Key Players There are several key players who generate large amounts of data that need to be shared among build team members during a project’s lifecycle. Within the dynamic, continual exchange of information on a typical project, one team member’s data will often affect the work of the entire team, requiring constant updating of facts, figures and analyses.

Architects

■ Generated at a related to the physical and functional characteristics of a facility’s design.

■ Plans and drawings are often updated throughout the project lifecycle, reflecting changes in budget, schedule and design elements.

■ Nine out ten often share high to moderate levels of data. ■ See software incompatibility as the biggest obstacle

to data sharing.

■ Estimate that lack of interoperability contributes3.3% to project costs.

Engineers

■ Generate data related to the design of a facility’s systems and analysis of its characteristics.

■ Data from analysis can often lead to changes in design, affecting schedule and budgets.

■ Data from building systems, such as mechanical,electrical and plumbing, are used to detect potential spatial interferences between systems that could lead to costly change orders.

■ Three-quarters share high to moderate levels of data. ■ See software incompatibility as the biggest obstacle

to data sharing.

■ Estimate that lack of interoperability contributes 3.6% to project costs.

Contractors

■ Generate data related to scheduling,building product quantities, cost estimating and project management.

■ Establish and update schedules and costs information that can affect the design of a project.

■ Three-quarters share high to moderate levels of data. ■ See software incompatibility as the biggest

obstacle to data sharing.

■ Estimate that lack of interoperability contributes 2.9% to project costs.

Owners

■ Need regularly updated data about budgets and schedules as it is adjusted throughout the project lifecycle.

■ Require data related to operations and maintenance of a facility for use after a project is completed.

■ Seven out of ten share high to moderate levels of data. ■ See software incompatibility as the biggest obstacle

to data sharing.

■ Estimate that lack of interoperability contributes 2.5% to project costs.

Building Product Manufacturers

■ Generate data related to building products such as dimensions, weight, appearance, cost, warrantees and future maintenance.

■ Data affects costs and design.

Practice

In response to increasing owner demand, architects, engineers, construction managers, contractors, and specialty disciplines are forming strategic alliances and working in new and innovative ways. For articles and other resources relating to changes necessary in practice and business culture that support Integrated Practice go to the IPD Practice page.

Technology / BIM

Integrated project delivery brings into play new technologies, especially those bridging across building design, construction, and operations boundaries. The use of integrated project delivery and Building Information Modeling (BIM) will advance integration of the design and construction processes, allowing greater predictability of project outcomes.

Key Players There are several key players who generate large amounts of data that need to be shared among build team members during a project’s lifecycle. Within the dynamic, continual exchange of information on a typical project, one team member’s data will often affect the work of the entire team, requiring constant updating of facts, figures and analyses.

The American Institutes of he Architects (AIA) has proposed a contract for developments that design and build with the use of 3 3D models.

The Associated General Contractors (AGC) has proposed a different contract for projects using 3 D models. Many other building industry groups are advocating the AGC  version.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is in charge of developing and managing Federal buildings has their own version.

Building Information modeling (BIM) is an emerging approach to the design,analysis, and documentation of buildings. BIM is the management of information throughout the entire life cycle of the design process, from early conceptual sketches through construction administration, and even into facility management.  Information includes all the inputs that are used in a building design: number of doors and windows, cost of materials, the size of heating and cooling equipment, the total energy footprint of this building, et. al. This information is captured in a digital 3D model that is shown as coordinated documents, is shared across disciplines, and serves as design management tool. The BIM method will radically change the way buildings are designed and built. The expectation of a building is changing. We are shifting from 2D drawings to on demand simulations of building performance, usage and cost. I have always felt that “value engineering” means “less for less”. With BIM we are able to check the life cycle cost of almost material that is called for in the design. This cross discipline means models can be sent directly to fabrication at the outset of design \, by passing the need for traditional shop drawings. Energy analysis can be done at the outset of design, and most critically, construction costs become much more predictable.

BIM has changed how designers and contractors view the entire development process. With BIM. a parametric 3D model is used to generate traditional building abstractions such as plans, sections, elevations, details, and schedules. These are interactive representations.  Working in a model-based framework guarantees that a change in one view will cause changes in all other views of the model.

3D models improve understanding of the building, and its spaces. A variety of design options can be shown to the owner and other members of the development team.

The key difference between BIM and computer-aided designCAD) is that traditional CAD systems use many 2D documents to explain a building. Because these documents are created separately, there is no correlation or intelligent connection among them. A wall in plan view is represented with two parallel lines with no understanding that these lines represent the same wall in a section. The probability of uncoordinated data is very high. The BIM model is a centralized database model, it puts all the data in one location and then cross links that data among the different objects. This model is interdependent and shares intelligence.

If a change is made in a CAD set of drawings, the designer must change each page.  The BIM manages the changes for you.

In 2D drawings you draw two lines to represent a wall. In BIM, to draw a wall you use the interactive tool called Wall. This wall tool asks for width, height, bearing or non-bearing, demolish or new, interior or exterior, fire rating, and materials.The wall interacts with other walls to automatically join geometries and clean up connections, showing how the wall will be built.  Similarly, if you add a door to his wall, it more than four lines and an arc, it is a door in plan and elevation. A single flush door can be 32″, 34″, or 36″, It can be painted or solid wood. All of these sizes and colors can be part of the same brand, with different parametric values applied.

BIM can bring the design, construction, and management of buildings into the twenty-first century. It takes teamwork and the same goal for all to eliminate the adversarial  relationships that have plagued the building of structures for many generations.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed this innovative glass sided Zuckerman Research Laboratory Center for the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.  The building presented  a heat loss problem.  As you know frequently in glass framed building- the south facing side  of the building is hot while the north facing side is cold.   Zuckerman Research Center innovative  design is aimed to maximize daylight without this usual heat gain.

Despite appearances otherwise, just half of the northwest elevation of the Zuckerman Research Center comprises vision glass. The remainder of the curtain wall is covered, which meld into the glass pattern for visual consistency without emitting further heat load into the interior. Underneath all of it a second skin of metal louvers stretched over the structural frame allows mechanical systems to draw air in and out of the building.

Opposite the labs, the southeast-facing office wall is virtually floor-to-ceiling double-glazed glass with low-emissivity coating. Exterior bracket-mounted horizontal-louver elements serve as efficient shading devices. “We had the ability to make the wall more transparent because the heat load there was handled primarily through the horizontal sun-shading devices,” Abadan says; “the very early sun that would penetrate into the building is not that strong, and there are few people in the building during those hours.” SOM calibrated these aluminum louvers according to daily angles of incidence, but with an eye to avoiding snow and ice accumulation.

At the time SOM undertook the Zuckerman design process, integrating photovoltaics into the facade proved impractical. But the systems the architects did employ effectively met other sustainability aspirations. Almost all building occupants have access to natural illumination most of the day, for example. And in conjunction with Lutron lighting controls, abundant daylight has helped achieve a 20 percent—and potentially higher—reduction in energy use compared to a similar code-compliant building.

The Aqua Tower by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang

A daring piece of architecture. Aqua comes off more as a massive sculpture than as a residential block in the crowded heart of the city.  This in not a conventional skyscraper, Aqua is special. Finally, a residential high rise that is great sculpture while being attractive and distinctive.

At its heart it is the standard glass box that  we’ve seen before. But protruding from its surface are undulating concrete balconies resembling ripples or waves. But the ripples are not without challenge. Much like each wave in the lake, each floor plate in Aqua is unique. And for homeowners, not all units are equal. While some people may have a balcony up to 12 feet wide, others balconies will be smaller.

Aqua was originally envisioned as a split between condominiums and a hotel. Because of changing economic factors some of the condominium units were changed to apartments. Further economic turmoil took its toll on the hotel aspect of this project. Strategic Hotels & Resorts planned to buy 15 floors of Aqua to expand its Fairmont Hotel across the street, but in October, 2008 it pulled out of the project. These are times that also call for innovative developers.  The distinctive  appearance of the Aqua Tower will serve it well. It separates this building from every other high rise in Chicago. My hat is off to the developers and lenders who encouraged this design. I am looking forward to seeing more of this architect’s work.

Obama needs Elizabeth Warren for credibility. America mistrusts Wall Street. Main Street needs Elizabeth Warren to regulate Wall Street.  Obama  desperately needs a real winner, Elizabeth Warren, to regain public confidence.

The voters’ enemy is Wall Street. Obama’s advisors include those who have aided and comforted the enemy-Wall Street.  Larry Summers, during the Clinton years, helped remove the public’s safeguards against Wall Street that led to this Recession  Treasury Secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, co-authored the 2008 policies that led to huge Wall Street profits while the American economy fell apart. There is no middle ground. It is either Main Street or Wall Street.

Reading the writings of Elizabeth Warren makes it very clear that she is clearly on Main Street’s side.

Elizabeth Warren is the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School –In the wake of the 2007-9 financial crisis, she became the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to investigate the U.S. banking bailout (formally known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program). In 2007, she also first developed the idea to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.  Elizabeth  Warren has written twelve books and  more than 100 articles in leading publications. Elizabeth Warren is one of the strongest advocates for the middle class.

This is best proven by the book-  The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke by Elizabeth Warren.

As you know, the largest  contributor to federal elections has been Wall Street. Today. the U.S. Supreme Court”s decided that placing restrictions on corporate contributions to federal elections was illegal. Now there is no limit on the amount Wall Street can contribute to federal elections.

After Ferdinand Pecora’s 1934 hearings about major bank’s causing the Great Depression, Congress enacted legislation to regulate Wall Street including the major banks. As Pecora predicted Wall Street would not stop fighting until Wall Street made their own rules not the U. S. Congress. Gradually what Pecora predicted came true. The final act was when Bill Clinton signed into law the repeal of the Glass-Stegall Act, which had kept major banks out of the investment banking business. Then with regulations eliminated, we had a repeat of the 1929 economic collapse.   Most Main Street businesses either nearly collapsed or collapsed.  Despite this economic collapse, Wall Street made huge profits. No wonder the voters are wary of Wall Street. It is time that the President and Congress acknowledge this deep seated distrust of Wall Street and do something about it.  Remember, the repeal of many of the safeguards enacted during the Great Depression, was done by both parties. Taking Wall Street contributions is bi-partisan.

Who is to write the regulations of Wall Street? Will it continue to be Wall Street?  Both parties must realize that there are only two sides to this debate. Since 2007, we have seen the dire results when Wall Street self regulates. The public is demanding that Wall Street needs more than self-regulation.

Obama needs  to regulate Wall Street. Elizabeth Warren is knowledgeable. She represents the middle class. Elizabeth Warren will restore public confidence in our government by the Wall Street regulations she writes and executes. As Pecora said, these regulations are never self-executing.

Yesterday, President Obama’s plea for help in Massachusetts was ignored. The Democratic candidate received 850,000 less votes than Obama had received in 2008. The winner received  57,000 more than McCain did in 2008.

• Despite a filibuster proof 60 votes in the U.S. Senate, Obama’s principal programs were not passed by the Senate.  The blame for this failure to make the President’s program into law completely completely falls on his fellow Democrats.
• Now that the Republicans have 41 Senate votes, the Democrats filibuster proof majority is gone-
• The Democrats still have a strong majority-59 to 41.
• With a still languishing economy, the country looks to Congress for help- especially with job creation.
• With the filibuster now available to the Republicans, there is little hope for Congress to pass much in 2010
• During the Bush administration, Senate Democrats threatened to kill a Bush judicial appointment by a filibuster. Karl Rove told the Senate that the filibuster was created by the passage of a Senate rule. Rove pointed out that a simple majority vote could repeal this rule. He urged the majority Republicans to repeal the filibuster rule. Instead the majority agreed not to repeal the filibuster rule and the minority agreed not to filibuster judicial appointments.
• This was a limited repeal of the filibuster rule by limiting what could be filibustered
• Our economy needs help. We need more jobs, More retail spending.
• The only prayer that this help will be on the way is repealing the filibuster rule.
• The only real test of the thought is the act.
• Do the Senate Democrats want to help our people have an economic rebirth?
• Can Congress get away from the control of Wall Street?

January 19, 2010

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The tag on U.S. financial regulation reform may as well say “Made on Wall Street” if bank lobbyists manage to gut the Obama administration’s proposed consumer watchdog agency, said Elizabeth Warren on Monday.  The head of a panel monitoring the government’s bank bailout program, Warren is a Harvard Law School professor and a fierce critic of the banking industry. She is also rumored to be front-runner to become the first chief of President Barack Obama’s proposed U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Agency. (CFPA)  The CFPA would be a new government regulator devoted to shielding Americans from financial rip-offs like the abusive subprime mortgages at the core of the 2008 financial crisis, and the prolonged recession and bank bailouts that followed.  But the proposed agency, already pared back last month in the House of Representatives, is in trouble in the Senate.  Under pressure from big banks fighting hard to kill or weaken it, senators are said to be discussing downgrading the CFPA from an independent agency to something less than that.  Such a move would undermine the integrity of the reform project overall and set up the United States for another cycle of financial predation, crisis and bailout, Warren said.The Senate will reconvene on Wednesday with analysts expecting agreement in the banking committee on financial regulation reforms within weeks.  ”The CFPA is the best indicator of whether Congress will reform Wall Street or whether it will continue to give Wall Street whatever it wants,” she told Reuters in an interview.  ”The question of who is in control is not going to be revealed by some nuance of how to deal with leverage ratios or credit default swaps clearing,” she said.  Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA is the proposed new agency that would be equipped with the power to write rules governing basic consumer credit products like home mortgages and credit cards, and would have the authority to regulate big banks and monitor their compliance.

Federal bank regulators, who focus on the safety and soundness of the country’s banking system, are concerned with bank profitability and following regulations.  Consumer protection is not  their assigned task.

Elizabeth Warren,the Harvard Law professor, said  ”We have all worked hard to make the CFPA into a reality, and the next few weeks will determine whether our hard work will make a difference for families or whether families will lose once again. The next few weeks will determine whether families will have to play by rules written by the banks and for the banks — rules that let the industry get away with anything. In my view, we cannot let families lose again.”  But there’s been a growing recognition that the lack of adequate protection for consumers helped cause the financial meltdown of 2008.

President Obama and his advisers have repeatedly called for such an agency, arguing that it’s the best way to protect consumers from the big banks. The House passed a financial reform bill modeled on his proposal in December.

Republicans have vowed to defeat any bill creating such an agency, arguing that its proposed powers are best left to the bank regulators. Federal banking regulators also oppose it, arguing that it’s hard to separate bank regulation from consumer protection. The sub-prime mortgage disaster speaks for itself.

Blocking the CFPA has been atop the banking industry’s legislative agenda since last summer. The industry has spent millions lobbying and campaigning against such an agency, which they argue would lead to increased costs and less credit for consumers. A repeat of the fallacious and ineffective arguments they made in 1934 against regulation.

The power of the bank lobby on Capitol Hill cannot be understated. As Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said as a bankruptcy bill he championed went down in flames, “they frankly own the place.” The largest contributors to Federal Elections are the moguls of Wall Street. They have been getting what they have paid for. Is this to continue?

History repeats itself

It’s the spring of 1933, the height of the banking crisis. 38 of the 48 states have closed their banks. Unemployment is 25 percent. Breadlines are long. People are hungry and they’re angry, and along comes Ferdinand Pecora, a son of a shoemake, who takes on the movers and shakers of Wall Street. What did he do that touched such a nerve in the country?

Ferdinand Pecora took the job as chief counsel to the Senate Banking Committee in 1933. He was a savvy immigrant from Sicily,  a former Manhattan assistant district attorney with a memory for facts, figures, dates, and names that proved the undoing of a Wall Street banking world gone berserk with greed and fraud

Under threat of subpoena and under oath, one tycoon after another — including J.P. Morgan, Jr., of the House of Morgan and Charles “Sunshine Charley” Mitchell, chairman of First National City Bank (now Citigroup) — was hauled before the committee and grilled relentlessly by Pecora.

To their shock, the pompous financiers, unaccustomed to having their actions or integrity questioned by anyone, much less some pipsqueak, foreign-born legalist who made $255  a month, were no match for his cross-examination skills.

They found themselves confessing to a litany of financial sins, including discount stock offerings to VIP “preferred” customers, repackaging bad loans and selling them as bonds to the unsuspecting, and non-payment of income tax. ( Sounds like the sub-prime mortgage frauds)

The Pecora hearings resulted in 12,000 pages of transcripts and important New Deal legislation that, for the first time, regulated the high-handed, free-wheeling banking industry and protected the public from its excesses — including the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (which established the Securities and Exchange Commission — Pecora was one of its first commissioners) and the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933, which erected a firewall between commercial and investment banking — a wall torn down during the Clinton Administration, leading to much of our trouble today.

After the hearings Ferdinand Pecora wrote “Wall Street Under Oath: The Story of our Modern Money Changers” ;  The author pointed out that the fears Wall Street  raised about  predicted disastrous results from the 1934 laws were groundless, he emphasized that Wall Street would be constantly contributing to political campaigns. He gave the reasons for maintaining future vigilance. Pecora proved prophetic when he predicted that Wall Street would use guerilla warfare  until they had repealed this regulation or in the least effectively watered the legislation down to where they were again the only one MAKING THEIR RULES.

Ironically it was a Democratic president named William Jefferson Clinton that gleefully put his pen to the deregulating legislation of the era.

NOW

This Congress has finally acknowledged the outcry against Wall Street, and is supporting some 21st century version of the “Pecora hearings.”

“Pecora hearings?” That’s right, as in Ferdinand Pecora,  with a memory for facts and figures that proved the undoing of a Wall Street banking world gone berserk with greed and fraud.

Ferdinand Pecora, your time has come again. Your floodgates were removed- and surprise- another flood- the economy goes down again

Today, the same Wall Street mavens have destroyed our economy as they did in 1929. There is no outcry today as there was then. then we were a nation of 100,000,00- today over 300,000,000- today many more folks were hurt! How did Pecora galvanize public support? ? He took complex, corporate maneuverings, complex transactions on Wall Street and turned them into simple morality plays. In the 1930’s, infamous criminals were  called racketeers, like Al Capone,- these Wall Street bankers were called banksters

Who can do this today? Although billions were last by this recent Wall Street acts of fraud and deceit, Congress is not receiving the public support that the 1934 Congress received.

Wall Street’s outrages conduct must be made public. Exposure of the depths of their illegal and immoral acts will so scandalize the Wall Street gang so they  CAN NOT continue to stop the crying demand for financial regulation being made into law.

All of us have to make this clear to our representatives- they must stand up to Wall Street in favor of Main Street.

Elizabeth Warren  is my nomination for the next Pecora