This morning in Dirksen Senate Building the Financial Crisis Inquiry
Commission, a congressionally appointed panel, will be investigating "how
the interaction of these two
financial giants may or may not have contributed to the causes
of the financial crisis," according to the Commission chairman,
Phil Angelides.

Why is Goldman there? Well, it took a subpoena and some bad publicity to
get them to agree to come.

The hearing has special importance in light of the massive civil fraud
suit filed by the S.E.C. against Goldman Sachs for allegedly
misrepresenting mortgage deals from investors, as well as the Dodd-Frank
financial reform bill which reconvened into Conference yesterday.

While the hearing’s stated focus is on derivatives, it would be wise for
the Commission to use derivatives to shed light on some of the other
mysteries of the crisis such as relationship between former Treasury
Secretary Hank Paulson and Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein.