There's always been public anger at the largest banks, the bonuses, the record profits, but now the media is reporting on it more. And thus, Congress and other public leaders are working on pushing back the banks. Just remember, that there is no reason to stop calling for reform when you know that things are wrong. Leaders should be working to reform what is broken, but are still unable to do the right thing unless you tell them to. Here is a roundup of pushbacks to Wall St that we can celebrate, but we should need to remember how important it is to keep being mad.

Obama Aides Go on TV to Criticize Wall Street: "Striking a populist tone, several of President Obama’s leading advisers on Sunday issued stern warnings to Wall Street. They said big banks must not resist greater government oversight now that they have regained their financial footing through taxpayer financed bailouts."

Downturn has hit banking lobbyists: "The 2008 collapse of the financial sector also spawned a contraction in the number of banking lobbyists on K Street, leaving the industry with a smaller bench as Congress begins rewriting the rules for Wall Street."

The Chamber of Commerce is a relentless lobbying group. "White House plan: Neuter the Chamber": "The Democrats’ assault on the Chamber is not without risk. While neutralizing the Chamber would amount to a major tactical victory for the administration, anything less could backfire — infuriating and energizing a well-funded foe with ties to business in virtually every community in the country.

The White House seems determined to put the boot in.

Last week, Obama slammed the Chamber for “spending millions” to make “completely false” attacks against his consumer financial protection agency proposal. His comments came on the same day as his energy secretary, Steven Chu, said it was “wonderful” that companies had left the Chamber over climate issues.""

Dodd, Shelby lead way on unified finance reform: "Although a Senate reform bill has yet to emerge, extensive interviews by POLITICO found that the marquee players who will emerge in both the Senate and the House during this fall’s debate on regulatory reform have been negotiating and hashing out ideas for months."

Summers Tells Finance Executives to Stop Fighting Tougher Rules: "White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers told leaders of top financial companies last month the Obama administration “will not be lectured” by opponents of a proposed consumer-protection agency."

Paul Krugman reminds of the past and our anger and the subsequent actions by leaders to bail out of the debate on reform:

You may recall that earlier this year there was a big debate about how to get the banks lending again. Some analysts, myself included, argued that at least some major banks needed a large injection of capital from taxpayers, and that the only way to do this was to temporarily nationalize the most troubled banks. The debate faded out, however, after Citigroup and Bank of America, the banking system’s weakest links, announced surprise profits. All was well, we were told, now that the banks were profitable again.

But a funny thing happened on the way back to a sound banking system: last week both Citi and BofA announced losses in the third quarter. What happened?

Part of the answer is that those earlier profits were in part a figment of the accountants’ imaginations. More broadly, however, we’re looking at payback from the real economy. In the first phase of the crisis, Main Street was punished for Wall Street’s misdeeds; now broad economic distress, especially persistent high unemployment, is leading to big losses on mortgage loans and credit cards.

And here’s the thing: The continuing weakness of many banks is helping to perpetuate that economic distress. Banks remain reluctant to lend, and tight credit, especially for small businesses, stands in the way of the strong recovery we need.

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