This week I’d like to make some New Year’s resolutions. This being a time of giving, I’ve generously made New Year’s resolutions not for myself, but for the people and institutions who run and supervise Wall Street. There are some things they need to do next year, and they’d better get cracking.

So without further ado:

President Obama: My New Year’s resolution for the president is that he fire Tim Geithner. That’s the best thing he can do to restore investor confidence in the markets.

I have nothing against the gent, and in fact I have a great deal of respect for him. But I just don’t believe he’s the right man for the job. I interviewed Tim Geithner when he was still president of the New York Fed, and twice profiled him for Condé Nast Portfolio. In my reporting for these articles, I came away with two distinct impressions: 1) He is very able, smart, well motivated, well intentioned, and, above all, experienced. 2) He is excessively deferential to the big banks he is charged with regulating.

That’s understandable. The banks employ some of the smartest and most experienced people around. Hell, if I was Treasury Secretary or president of the New York Fed, I’d lean on the likes of the estimable Alan Greenspan, Gerald Corrigan, ex-New York Fed president now with Goldman Sachs, and that other ex-Goldman genius of finance, John Thain. I’d sit at their feet and learn from them. But, you see, that’s why nobody is naming me Treasury Secretary or president of the New York Fed. President Obama needs somebody who can exert leadership and stand up to those kinds of fine gentlemen.

Best thing of all, if he fires Tim Geithner he won’t have to sell his house in the New York suburbs if he hasn’t gotten rid of it yet. Last I heard, he was renting it out.

Phil Angelides: Most people have never heard of this fellow, but he’ll be crucial in the months ahead. He’s the former Treasurer of California and the chairman of the commission that was appointed by Congress to investigate the causes of the financial crisis. I have my doubts about this panel and am not happy with reports that he’s unwilling to use subpoena power. But the commission is all we’ve got, so we’re stuck with it. Mr. Angelides needs to investigate Congress’ role in the financial crisis, along with everyone else’s, of course. The 911 Commission did a credible job of exploring the roots of the September 11 attacks, and the financial-crisis commission needs to go straight to the Capitol Hill roots of the mess if it is to have any credibility. I’m putting this first because I believe it hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell, but maybe I’ll be surprised.

The House Ways and Means Committee: This is the body that writes the tax laws. Well, ever since the Kemp Roth tax cuts of 1981, the ultrarich have gotten a free ride. The public won’t stand for that anymore, so that’s why we find that even tea-party types are hanging bankers in effigy. That’s one thing the right and left can agree on, the Glenn Beck and MSNBC types alike, that the bankers have to be reined in. But raising taxes is viewed as socialistic by the Becks of this world, no matter how much they ostensibly want to curb the Street. Tough. Congress needs to tax Wall Street bonuses to smithereens.

There are several reasons for doing this. First is that it may have an unintended consequence, which is to drive the people getting these bonuses overseas. I know, that is usually put in the “drawbacks” category, but I think that’s a plus. We’ve had three decades of poorly taxed overcompensation, and what has it gotten us? Apart from New York bars crowded with yuppies and the domination of philanthropy by hedge fund types who are a lot more tightfisted than they let on, it has resulted in 10 of the worst years in the stock market for everybody. Their overuse of leverage, their derivatives, their black boxes, and their incentive compensation all combined to result in the Great Recession we’re all enjoying. So I say, tax 'em till they flee. As for the other reasons, they don’t matter. This is reason enough.

Wall Street CEOs: I have a warm and fuzzy New Year’s resolution for these gentlemen: Keep yourself from getting taxed to smithereens. Return compensation back to sane levels, and/or do what Goldman Sachs just did for its highest-paid executives (not for public relations purposes, I’m sure!) and pay your people with restricted stock that can’t be cashed in for a long time. Shower them in stock, but be sure that the compensation is structured so that they take a bath if the rest of us do. Goldman is paying its people in stock that can’t be cashed in for five years. That’s a reasonable holding period.

Or you can do the unthinkable and put them on salary.

Attorney General Eric Holder: At the risk of stating the obvious, Holder needs to appoint a special prosecutor to determine if criminal charges should be lodged against the people who committed fraud and other nastiness during the financial crisis. I’m already on record that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer should get some kind of position of power in the Obama administration, perhaps this one. I must say that I’m hurt that nothing has been done to implement this proposal. OK. It doesn’t absolutely have to be Spitzer. There are plenty of hungry prosecutors out there who are just chomping at the bit to be set loose on Wall Street.

Holder should also light a fire under his prosecutors, especially those in the Southern and Eastern district of New York, and get them back in the business of criminalizing securities fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been doing a more vigorous job of policing the markets lately. We need to see more referrals to prosecutors. Throwing away the key is not necessary, but locking them up is always a good idea.

See you in 2010.