Popular outrage at the financial crisis has put the Senate behind an amendment by Sen. Bernard Sanders demanding an audit of financial transactions by the Federal Reserve.

Anger growing out of the meltdown has ignited a populist prairie fire extending from the libertarian right where Rep. Ron Paul resides, to the social democratic left represented by Sanders. Paul and Sanders teamed up to bring better transparency to the Fed so the public could follow the money as it moved from the public coffers into the coffers of the Wall Street banks.

The Senate did not extend transparency to the private discussions by which the Fed sets monetary policy. It is important for the Fed to remain insulated from political pressures, though it could be argued that secrecy allows the Fed to indulge in political partisanship. The Fed under its former chairman, Alan Greenspan, appeared to work hand-in-glove with the Bush administration.

The politics of the economic collapse remain difficult for both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans had sought to block reform of Wall Street until it became apparent that the Obama administration was more than willing to tar them as the defenders of Wall Street. But even the Democrats have struggled to put together tough reform in the face of resistance from the bankers' lobby.

The financial bailout and the role of the Fed remain volatile topics politically. The bailout, it will be remembered, was the product of the Bush administration, which had presided over the most serious economic debacle since the Great Depression and was desperate for the means to stave off total collapse.

But it is President Obama's bailout now. And it is his economic debacle. It has been Obama's challenge to make the American people understand that, as unfair and distasteful as the bailout may have been and as undeserving as the bankers were, the economy required aggressive intervention by the government. Otherwise, a worldwide depression was the nightmare scenario that people of both parties dreaded.

The Tea Party movement appears to have fixed its attention on the national debt and the massive annual deficits that are the product of the Bush years, the collapse, the bailout and the Obama stimulus plan. With Greece now requiring a historic bailout by the European Union, it is clear the world financial emergency is not yet over. Thus, the United States remains in a tight place — forced to stimulate the economy to get it moving again and forced to contain the deficits that threaten to swallow federal budgets.

Sanders has been particularly effective in focusing attention on the need for financial reform. Someone had to articulate the case without the timidity enforced by dependence on Wall Street campaign contributions, and Sanders was a good man for the job. Strong financial reform, including measures to regulate trade in derivatives, protect consumers, and subject hedge funds and other "shadow" banking institutions to regulation, are essential to bring stability to the capitalist system. Indeed, Sanders may find it ironic that, like Franklin Roosevelt, he may be viewed by history as one of those who rescued capitalism.

Beyond repairing the system, the job of getting control of the national debt remains. It will require curbs in federal spending and higher taxes. The health care reform bill is expected to slow the growth of Medicare spending. Slower growth in Social Security spending will also be necessary, and there are ways to do it. Baby boomers may have to receive less. The retirement age may have to be pushed back. More Social Security revenue will also be needed, probably by lifting the upper limit of income subject to the tax.

These reforms will probably be the work of Obama's second two years in office. His deficit reduction commission will have produced its report by the end of this year. If the economy continues its slow recovery and financial reform legislation gets the banks back on track, then the nation may emerge from the wreckage more or less intact.

Sanders is playing his part, pushing the Democrats toward the tough reforms that the people are demanding.