And a lot of large commercial bankers too William C. Shelton (The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.) There is a genre of horror movie in which harmless creatures like birds, insects, dogs, or rodents come together as an implacable mob to ruthlessly devour human flesh. In a similar genre, formerly congenial neighbors turn into soul-sucking pod people, zombies, or demon-possessed children.

That's pretty much the story of big banks over the last thirty years. Boston-based writer Matt Taibi describes investment bank Goldman Sachs as "a vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."

His description is apt for both investment banks and the largest commercial banks. In addition to human flesh, they prey on community banks.

Businesses must have capital to start and grow. Individuals need a safe place to keep their hard-eared money.

So once upon a time, commercial banks took in deposits and made loans to small businesses and homebuyers. The borrower's character was often an essential element in lending decisions. Investment banks were like the family doctor to large businesses, raising capital by prudently issuing and selling their stocks and bonds.

The nation had learned some lessons from the Great Depression. Lawmakers imposed regulation and disclosure requirements on banks. The Glass Steagall Act forbade investment banks from taking in deposits, and commercial banks from selling securities. There were requirements on how much banks could borrow in proportion to their assets.

During the greed-is-good 1980s, the Reagan regime preached that if we just cut big business's taxes and allow them to do whatever they wanted, we would all prosper. Jealous of the legalized bribes from big banks that Republicans were gorging on, Clinton out-pandered Reagan, pushing through a repeal of Glass Steagall and other essential regulations.

Investment banks had been owned by the partners who managed them. So when they took risks, their own money was on the line. But they saw an opportunity to get a lot richer by selling their ownership stakes as publicly traded stock.

Now, they could play increasingly high-risk games with other people's money. If they won, they made obscene profits. If they lost, the suckers paid. And if they wrecked the economy, they were too big to be allowed to fail, so the taxpayers would bail them out.

That's exactly what happened. Bush's investment-banker Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put together the Troubled Asset Relief Program, channeling hundreds of billions to giant banks and AIG. The Fed quietly threw another couple trillion at them.

A few bank executives took golden parachutes. The rest went back to contriving hocus-pocus deals to enrich themselves while impoverishing others.

Meanwhile, the daily rate of foreclosures is ten times that of the Great Depression. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. I doubt very much that the official unemployment rate will dip below nine percent for the next three years.

Back on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs executives rewarded themselves with $16 billion in bonuses this year. CEO Lloyd Blankfein said that they deserved it because they "are doing God's work."

As a small illustration of "God's work," consider the European Union's financial crisis. For a $300 million fee, Blankfein's company helped Greek officials hide their groaning debt burden. Then Goldman and other I-bankers bet against Greece, pushing it closer to insolvency.

Another greed-driven financial meltdown could push the U.S. government itself toward insolvency, and nothing has changed to prevent it. The policies required are fairly straightforward:

• Break up the too-big-to-fail banks.

• Reinstate the Glass Steagall Act.

• Require full regulation and disclosure of hedge funds and derivatives traders.

• Impose leverage requirements, e.g. you can't play with borrowed money that amounts to more than twelve times the value of your assets.

• Ban naked credit default swaps.

• Give stockholders the right to set executive compensation.

• Give consumers an authority that protects them from con jobs.

• Tax the bastards at the same levels that working people pay.

But those in Congress who could put these policies into law are on their backs, baring their necks like puppies, while knowing that their masters will rub their tummies. And the doggie treats will get a lot sweeter, thanks to five corporate servants who moonlight as Supreme Court justices.

In January, they threw out a century of campaign finance law. Compared to scores of billions in banking-executive compensation, Congressional doggie treats are peanuts.

As Senator Dick Durbin observes, the banks "are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And frankly, they own the place."

He's right. The Democrats are putting together a feeble banking reform bill that they hope will appease the Republicans. Sure enough, the language of Senator Dodd's draft dropped even the simple "requirement for stock brokers and insurance agents to act in the best interest of their clients."

Republicans will repudiate the bill anyway. So Congressional Democrats will endure the agonies of the damned to give birth to a costly abomination that they will then feel obligated to defend.

The Apostle Paul did not write that money is the root of all evil. He wrote that the love of money is the root of all evil.

When I was in business school, those who went into investment banking, as a class, lusted after money. With a few exceptions, they were the most driven, the shallowest, and the least concerned by ethical considerations. Shortly thereafter, our elected officials turned over the candy store to them.

Forget Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. I think that it's time to sharpen up the guillotines and ready the tumbrels.