And now we turn to the drama unfolding here in Washington. Tomorrow marks the first public meeting of what's called the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a panel set up by Congress, a lot like the 9/11 Commission was, to get to the bottom of last year's financial meltdown. The CEOs of the nation's biggest banks will be there, just as they are about to reward their employees with what could be some record-breaking bonuses. CNBC's David Faber, here in Washington to cover everything that happens tomorrow, is here with us tonight.
-David, I heard somebody on the air today say that for the banking industry, this is like the start of the old Watergate hearings. It’s correct or hyperbole?
-Well, perhaps a bit of hyperbole. It's not clear we'll have quite that drama or that much on the line, but no doubt tomorrow when you have Lloyd Blankfein from Goldman Sachs, John Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan, and the new CEO of Bank of America, all in front of this commission, there are going to be a lot of questions asked. It may not be quite as combative as sometimes it is in front of Congress. This commission is going to be operating for quite some time, trying to truly get some answers as to what underpinned that financial collapse that took place in the fall of '08.
-And who's the investigator? Who's running things here? And what will the actual outcome likely be for taxpayers who would love to hear some answers?
-Well, you know, we won't know the outcome for quite some time. This is often the case with these commissions that a final report is sometime away, probably far away from when we, of course, suffered such a blow in our financial markets. Nonetheless, Phil Angelides is running the commission, former state treasurer at California. And it has a number of significant people on it who actually will be able to understand some of the answers they're getting from the people they're asking the questions to. We'll see. We may actually get some deeper understanding of exactly what went on, and there may even be some law enforcement that gets involved, as well, down the road if they really do their work.
-All right, David Faber, we'll look for your coverage of it among others tomorrow. David, thanks for being with us tonight.
