Does Sensenbrenner even KNOW what a solar flare is? It scares me that these people seem to have not an ounce of curiosity between them.

"...which continues to hold the record for 'Place In A Book Where Normal People Go 'Fuck this shit.' And Stop Reading'"

Near the end? You have a lot more endurance than I do, because I couldn't get 50 pages in before the shit writing and paper-thin characters had me toss the brick at the nearest wall. I then read Dan Simmons' "The Terror" and all was forgotten.

Yup. I'd even go so far to say that anything that you can think of, if it involves a mundane piece of furniture or household appliance, is very likely the subject of fetishization. Just to prove a point, I told a friend that (thinking of something random) there was very likely a sub-sub-subset of porn (not involving CBT - if you don't know, DON'T Google) which included ceiling fans and or fan blades. Well...what do you know...

As a bonus, we got stuff with lawn sprinklers.

No no...I agree with you there. Unfortunately, though, all of the big independent accounting firms have gone through a scandal or two, and I doubt that the answer to the problem is to throw a bunch of contractors at it (a topic needing a post all its own). The Gold Bugs are way too into their own conspiracy theories to be trusted, and as for the revolving door? Who has the balls to take that on? I'd almost want to ask if there was anyone out there patriotic enough to take a job with the SEC (over a private sector counterpart), despite the lower pay, for the good of the people. I haven't, because the answer would depress me. But keep up the good work...I look forward to the posts when I'm at work.

The short term audit (if there's a misnomer, blame work and the subsequent, post-shift drinking) was something that was pushed for by Bernie Sanders:
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9...

As for the wives thing:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-rea...

All things considered, you're right - the bankers' wives got a tiny sliver of what was doled out by The Fed. For me, however, it's not the amount, but the act; the finance industry acts as if it is entirely above the law (and really, proof has not shown otherwise), and the recent bukkake-ing of the Senate Banking Committee by Dimon just goes to show that these people have no regard for anyone other than themselves. It would be an easily remedied thing, if only there was some jail time to be had.

If I have any complaints at all about the Obama administration, it's that they have, in their rush to put the past behind them, let Wall Street go with a pass - hell, look at Standard Charter and their dealings with Iran. I would personally push for the jailing of all their top execs and the revocation of their charter, but I doubt they'll get anything more than the recent fine.

The 80s Savings and Loan Scandal (see anything by William K. Black) was only resolved after hundreds of convictions, and to date, we've had not one prosecution of a financial institution, despite Carl Levin handing it to them on a plate.

Ugh. Sorry if it seems like I unloaded on you...it's just a sore topic for me. As for returns on T-bills...whether it's a stupid idea or not, I've moved all my money into Bonds and the traditionally "safe" bets, if only because I'm almost certain that this will end badly.

Hi to you as well! I've been lurking round these parts for a bit, and am one of the last OldGawker commenters to finally jump ship (I tried giving their revamped commenting system a go, and it's just a hassle, especially considering that you're only navigating it to reply to Yahoo News-level crap). Now on to the rest...

You make a fair point, and if anyone is going to meddle with policy for short-term gain, it's likely some moran politicians; I worry, however, that without an audit (I'm also pro-auditing the Pentagon, which is a vast repository of lost money), it's just going to be a black hole of unaccountability. Without that most recent short term audit, we would have never discovered that the wives of high profile bankers were getting nearly-zero interest loans (at the discount window, I think?). I'm pretty sure it was Taibbi who broke that story (I mention him a lot because he was the one who introduced me to this esoteric topic). I personally would benefit from being able to consolidate my debts at ridiculously low rates, which would then allow me to have more money to spend freely.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty much a neophyte when it comes to monetary policy, though knowing anything at all puts you above 99% of the population at large. I mean, what would you do? I can't think of anything off the top of my head, and most of the information out there seems designed to confuse the lay-person.

Bravo. But what's the issue with auditing the Fed [I'm not a Paul fan, I promise)? If anything, Matt Taibbi's tireless work on exposing the finance sector's crimes shows that a full, continual audit would likely be a great thing

And that TNG reference (if that's what it really is) is exactly the reason I keep coming back. Plus, it's fitting, considering what happened to the original inhabitants.