i have to give elliot spitzer a gold star for actually getting 2 points correct, of his 4 point thesis on the crash.

point 1 - the rating agencies were lying when they told the world that subprime borrowers with zero down payments and no income verification were good as gold - only an idiot would believe this crowd is going to repay their mortgages as effortlessly as "normal" homebuyers. welcome to normalcy and reality, mr spitzer. but this was a known factor a year ago, while you were still fending off prostitution charges

point 2 - putting the new york federal reserve in the witness chair. well i love that one too. on the basis of political theatre alone. that's the fed office which was formerly run by (drumroll please) . . . . that tax dodging, deer caught in the headlights shyster named Timothy Geithner. I'm not sure if Geither caused the crash - in fact i'm pretty sure he didn't. But it would be nice to have him testify about all those things democrats in congress were too polite to ask during his treasury confirmation hearings. i don't really care about geithners unpaid taxes any more - lets get to the juicy details about his daily lunches with wall street CEOS, and whether that bought his silence during leading up to the crisis. Or was he just not paying attention? this is the equivalent of chris dodd and friends' sweetheart mortgages through countrywide, a tale which NY democrat Edolphus Townes is doing his damnest to make sure never gets told to the public.

regarding the other spitzballs elliot is serviing up this week - no sale

on the subject of why corporate boards didn't foretell the mortgage crisis - well, interrogate them all you want, and you'll get the same answer: "we're not mortgage risk experts" they will resolutely and honestly answer that they are lawyers, university professors, retired congressmen, and aging CEOS of other industries. Just what the diversity doctor ordered, to insure that all segments of society are represented on corporate boards. when a mortgage expert working in a cubicle on the 13th floor appears before them and says subprime loans are safe, why would your average university prevost/corporate board member, who believes the poor should be homeowners and drive nice cars - why would HE say it isn't so?

spitzer's last stray thought - to take a stick and beat the compensation committees of bank boards is worse than useless. market forces set compensation for jobs, not compensation committees. the venality of spitzers suggestion is immediately evident when you remember that he desires singling out only a few companies for such opproprium. he leaves untouched the vast majority of companies with even HIGHER profitability and compensation structures for key executives - companies like Microsoft; WalMart; General Electric; Exxon; AT&T; Proctor and Gamble . . .

eliot - did you know that Microsoft's profit of $14 billion on revenues of $51 Billion gives them a profit ratio of nearly 30% - far far more than anything earned by banks or those evil health insurance companies obama is always clucking about - the profit level of Cardinal Health is only 2%, and for united healthgroup it was 6%

health insurers can get 2-6% returns just by purchasing treasury bills when the chinese decide they've had enough of obamanomics.

just so you know . ..

You mention Microsoft has a profit margin of 30% on actual sales of $51 billion but isn't the point about investigating how the (now defunct) investment banks created this crisis that they squeezed out their compensation through "investments" many times that amount with using "money" they basically created out of Ponzi schemes and ended up bankrupting themselves and all of us collectively and now want to "return to profitability" without real repayment or reform. It seem the reason Madoff is in jail and so many others are not is that he was honest about what transpired. There is no comparison to Microsoft, P&G and the like. As to the newly discovered low profit margin of health insurance companies they are dealing with industry worth trillions and profit margins are easily hidden behind wasteful administrative cost salaries and bonuses which are not counted in profits but should be.

baltimore aureole:

eliot - did you know that Microsoft's profit of $14 billion on revenues of $51 Billion gives them a profit ratio of nearly 30% - far far more than anything earned by banks or those evil health insurance companies obama is always clucking about - the profit level of Cardinal Health is only 2%, and for united healthgroup it was 6%

health insurers can get 2-6% returns just by purchasing treasury bills when the chinese decide they've had enough of obamanomics.

just so you know . ..

BA: You are bringing up a nonsequitar. As far as I know the lack of an affordable operating system has NOT caused 44,000 deaths a year. As far as I know the Great Recession of 2008 wasn't caused by a pricing bubble of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda.

You see- there are lots of areas in this economy where the profit motive does not conflict with the commonweal. There are, however, a few important areas where the profit motive DOES come into conflict with the common good of the society. Thus it is entirely valid for Obama to question the for-profit HMO industry. I just wish he would raise more questions about the for-profit Pharmaceuticals. Likewise, when the profit motive and the compensation structures cause financial CEO's to take gambles which have ripple effect through the economy, or issue derivatives they don't have the reserves to back up, or put out ratings which are bogus- it is entirely reasonable for Spitzer to call it into question.