In Washington this week, hearings are being held by a panel investigating what caused the recent financial crisis. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was created by Congress to look into 22 different areas that are believed to have contributed to the near-financial meltdown of 2008.

The FCIC was modeled after the 9/11 Commission, but there are doubts about its ability to expose all contributors to the crisis. While the financial inquiry panel has a budget of $8 million, it's been pointed out that the federal bankruptcy trustee who oversaw the dismantling of Lehman Brothers spent $38 million.

Such a relatively small budget suggests the inquiry is designed more for show than results.

While the FCIC is holding hearings this week, battles continue in Congress over the financial reforms necessary to prevent a similar crisis from being repeated. Again, there are doubts about how effective reforms will be, considering the political and economic power of the giant financial services industry, which prefers little or no real reform.

Wall Street banks, which reported record profits last year, are spending millions of dollars lobbying against reforms that might impede their future profits. The financial industry employs four lobbyists for each member of Congress. The public is clearly outgunned.

Federal bailout watchdog and Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren says the reform battle boils down to "a dispute between families and banks." Warren already is warning that the leading financial reform bill fails to address key areas of consumer protection.

Warren is an outspoken advocate for consumers, but it's important for the public to press Congress for real reform and regulations with teeth.

Powerful Wall Street interests would like to see little or no reform. Already, by delaying action so long after the worst of the crisis, populist anger is diminished.

Many on Wall Street and the politicians they support would like to see a watered-down bill passed — so it can be called financial reform without actually changing much.

That's not unlike the health care reform law passed by the U.S. House, which largely failed on cost control. Never in the health care debate was it explained why Americans should pay twice as much, on a per-capita basis, for heath care as citizens of other advanced nations.

Lawmakers are boasting about passing health care reform, when what they did was expand coverage while caving in to special interests when it came to cutting costs.

Some might call it non-reform reform. And a similar scenario could play out with financial reform.

Warren says, "The lobbyists' closest friends in the Senate would like nothing better than passing an agency (for financial consumer protection) that has a good name but no real impact, so they have something good to say to the voters — and something even better to say to lobbyists."

So, while the Senate deals with internal debates, partisan politics and the power of Wall Street money to influence policy, hearings into the causes of the financial crisis finally are beginning. Testifying this week are former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan as well as current and former executives at Citigroup, the financial giant that was deeply involved in subprime lending and also repackaging and selling bundles of those high-risk mortgages to investors.

On Friday, the financial inquiry panel is scheduled to look at the role played by government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Though not on the agenda, the commission should ask U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., to testify about their oversight roles as members of congressional finance committees. Each rejected increased regulation of Fannie Mae when some expressed concerns over increasingly lax lending standards.

Responding to concerns about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003, Frank said, "I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially." At another hearing in 2003, addressing concerns over subprime mortgages, Frank said, "I want to roll the dice a little bit more toward subsidized housing."

Frank got his wish. With the collapse of the housing bubble and the low-quality mortgages it financed, Fannie Mae required a $75.3 billion bailout from taxpayers.

In 2004, in response to additional concerns about Fannie Mae, Dodd proclaimed, "This is one of the great success stories of all time."

In the coming weeks, Americans should pay attention to what is happening in Washington — with both the battle over financial reforms and testimony before the financial crisis commission.

The FCIC is looking backward to determine what caused the crisis. The financial reforms effort is looking forward, in hopes of preventing a repeat crisis.

In both cases, the overlap of Wall Street money and Washington power puts consumers at a disadvantage. Only with advocates like Warren and loud, unmistakable public demands for real reform will families have a chance against bankers.