You can have your Franklin Raines, Freddie Mac's, entitlements, even your earmarked Bridges to Nowhere. For my money, if you want a real bogeyman for the economic collapse, read this excellent article in the New York Times, How the Thundering Herd Faltered and Fell, by Gretchen Morgenson.
It chronicles the rise of synthetic credit swaps and the raw greed and inane stupidity that caused our current crisis. It should serve as a signpost for the real need for future regulation and oversight in our financial markets. The idea for these instruments was launched at J.P. Morgan but they were too smart to drink their own kool-aid and ended up peddling the crap to Merrill Lynch, keeping all the good preferred senior paper for themselves.
Who was supposed to be watching? Have we learned anything? Want to bet?
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