This week, we watched another episode of half-educated Congressional grandstanding. This time around, the focus of misguided indignation was how much TARP money ended up being paid out to executive compensation and bonus by the largest banks.
The show-stealer was none other than Maxine Waters, the representative of California’s 35th district, who was also once ranked the 13th most corrupt legislator in Congress. Waters spent almost 7 minutes careening between one ridiculous statement to the next, at no time making any sense whatsoever. It only took her 30 seconds to make the credit crisis into a racial issue, she also mixed up Captains of Industry and Masters of the Universe, eventually settling on “Captains of the Universe” when referring to Ken Lewis and the boys. Be sure to watch the end of the clip, as Vikram Pandit of Citi is forced to explain to her how underwriting works. Video is below, but check out LOLFed‘s coverage, too.
Over at The Big Picture, Barry Ritholtz breaks the silence about what’s held up his long-awaited book, Bailout Nation. The bottom line appears to be that his publisher, McGraw Hill, is also the owner of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. The conflict may have something to do with Barry referring to S&P and Moody’s, the bond ratings agencies that blessed so much toxic paper, as “Pimps and Whores“. Worth a read for more insight into how scared McGraw Hill must be that their role in the credit crisis may become more high profile in the near-future. Hopefully, Barry lines up another publisher and we finally get to read this thing already.
I’m a New York City-based financial advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. I help people invest and manage portfolios for them. For disclosure information please see here.
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