10 Dirty Tricks Wall Street Con Artists Will Pull to Keep the Rip-offs Going

Yes, America wants an economic recovery. A brand new bull. And nobody wants it more than Wall Street. It gets rich off bull markets. Yes, Warren Buffett may be buying, but the odds are against Wall Street now.

The financial sector's in the tank: Stocks are huge losers. Earnings stink. Bonuses are down. And if they ask for TARP money, CEO salaries get capped, there are no lavish conferences and you fly commercial -- very humbling for a big boss used to making a million bucks a week.

Still, Wall Street wants a new bull more than you do. Why? Bulls breed megapayoffs.

Yes, Wall Street's running a handicap race on a bad playing field, a rotten economy. Yes, the pressure's enormous. But if Wall Street wants to get its hands back in the magic cookie jar soon, it has no choice. It must get super-clever super-fast and jump-start a roaring new bull for the rest of America's 95 million investors, quickly. Get it? Wall Street must deliver a new bull market, fast and soon.

How? By hook or by crook. Whatever pragmatic or Machiavellian power plays work. Why? Wall Street's got huge incentives at the end of this rainbow: Citing Watson Wyatt, the Economist says money management is a golden goose, with $64 trillion managed by professionals at the peak of the last bull. Assuming Wall Street controlled a third for an average 2% fee, there's roughly $400 billion at stake.

So Wall Street's army of lobbyists will have to pull off some fancy tricks, many at odds with today's demands for "change" by the president and political reformers. But now's the time to act, with the new TARP rules and an $800 billion stimulus bonanza on the way.

Look beyond the bad news. Remember, Washington's run by 40,000 lobbyists not 537 elected politicians. I'm betting lobbyists will use the following tactics to neutralize activists and limit reforms. That way, behind the scenes Wall Street keeps control with its business-as-usual tactics, schemes, scams, hustles and wheeling and dealing. Here are the 10 "dirty tricks" Wall Street lobbyists likely will use to help jump-start a new bull market:

1. Gridlock helps the rich get richer

Sure, Wall Street bet on Obama and he won a big majority and mandate. But remember, Forbes 400 richest, CEOs and K-Street lobbyists as well as Wall Street insiders, all get richer when Washington's in gridlock. The GOP's stonewalling is already leading the way, so lobbyists start hedging bets, contributing to a partisan war and more gridlock. 2. No Glass-Steagall revival

From 1933 until 1999 the Glass-Steagall Act separated banking to avoid conflicts of interest: Investment banks are high-risk gamblers playing with other people's money, raising capital, trading, crafting merger deals and earning commissions. Commercial bankers have a fiduciary responsibility to conserve capital and minimize depositors' risk; they earn salaries. In 1999 Congress tore down that wall.

Citigroup merged the two, became a financial supermarket, and has since lost 90% of its stock value, contributing to the meltdown. Still, last year Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs became bank holding companies to engage in both businesses and get free TARP money. Reviving Glass-Steagall would hurt them, and delay a new bull.

3. Keep rating agencies 'official'

We know credit-rating agencies are Street puppets. They shield Wall Street from liability, and create an illusion of security for investors in a bull market. But they're paid by Wall Street to protect issuers, and totally failed to protect the investor. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Michael Lewis and David Einhorn said: "The world is worse off for the existence of companies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's."

Ending the "official" role of rating agencies will prevent future meltdowns. Solution: Let investors or the public pay the bill. But Wall Street wants ratings as a shield in a bull, so they'll keep the agencies official.