Recently Bill Moyers was interviewing Bill Black, author of "The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One." As usual I came away with new insights into the present financial crisis.

The concept of banks too large to fail as well as "partners" that need a large yearly bonus is what troubles most people. Forget the contract, the yearly bonus is necessary because these are the people who actually know what went on. They are mostly complicit in all the financial fraud that went on. The yearly bonus keeps their loyalty and silence.

If the banks they work for are allowed to fail, those partners will be out of a job and on the street. Guess what they are likely to do to pay for a nice Caribbean vacation until all the ruckus blows over. Such disclosures (sans contract) will lift the lid on what everyone in high places wants to keep quiet, and this extends right up to the Fed. As long as the Fed and Treasury are permitted to keep throwing money at Wall Street, the problem will not go away. Let us all hope that Congress does not allocate more money to this disaster, and that Obama can escape to fight another day.

Bob Whiteside, Corvallis