Christopher Cox

- Named chairman of the SEC in 2005 -- by President George W. Bush!

- Longtime supporter of securities deregulation who actually believed that markets are better off regulating themselves voluntarily!

- Described by Forbes magazine as having "the air of a well-scrubbed, mischievous schoolboy" -- and "the retro good looks of a square-jawed astronaut"!

- In 1980, appeared as a contestant on the NBC game show Password Plus -- winning more than $5,000!

- 17-year Republican member of Congress -- representing sunny Orange County, California!

- Also served on the White House staff of Ronald Reagan, whose voodoo economics set the stage for the current global financial meltdown!

- Yet another of the best and brightest who got a Harvard MBA before going on to destroy the economy!

- According to one former SEC employee, the business community felt that the agency "was too tough on corporate America and Wall Street" -- and "Cox was brought in to chill it out"!

- Shifted SEC enforcement efforts from major investigations of big Wall Street banks to smaller-time investigations -- essentially looking the other way while Wall Street looted the economy!

- Watered down the SEC's risk-assessment program -- designed to prevent financial crises!

- Under Cox, SEC fines fell from $1.5 billion in 2005 to just $500 million in 2008!

- Also under Cox, the SEC failed to stop Bernie Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme -- despite having been warned that Madoff was up to no good for years!

- Did nothing while banks' subprime-backed securities holdings grew and capital ratios shrank, leading to the demise of Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers -- three of the five major investment banks on Wall Street!

- Finally got a grip on reality in September 2008, saying, "Voluntary regulation does not work"!

- Idiot!

Angelo Mozilo

- Founder and CEO of Countrywide Finance -- aggressive sub-prime mortgage lender, and the first mortgage lender to top $1 trillion in loans!

- Also co-founded IndyMac bank, another sub-prime mortgage origination factory!

- Wrote risky loans in order to sell them to Wall Street bankers -- who then packaged them into the "toxic assets" that are rotting corporate balance sheets around the globe!

- Son of a . . . butcher!

- Gave special loan terms to friends who really needed the financial break -- including Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), former Clinton White House staffer Paul Begala, former Clinton Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, former Fannie Mae CEOs James Johnson and Franklin Raines, and diplomat and investment banker Richard Holbrooke!

- Sold off hundreds of millions of dollars in Countrywide stock -- even while assuring buyers of the stock that they'd experience sweetness and light and skyrocketing investment returns!

- Took home $470 million in compensation between 2001 and 2006!

- Referred to borrowers who, under financial duress, contacted Countrywide to request revisions to their loan terms as "disgusting"!

- Proud owner of a George Hamilton tan!

- In January 2008, avoided Countrywide bankruptcy by selling the company to Bank of America -- for $4 billion!

- A month later, BofA (which to date has received $45 billion in bailout money) announced it would settle charges of predatory lending against Countrywide -- at a cost of nearly $9 billion!

- Soon to face SEC fraud charges!

- Believes Countrywide made a "positive impact" on society!

- Idiot!

Henry Paulson

- Goes by "Hank"!

- Eagle Scout!

- Worked for John Ehrlichman -- Republican and felon -- during the Watergate break-in and cover-up!

- CEO of Goldman Sachs during the inflation of the sub-prime mortgage bubble!

- Received total compensation from Goldman of more than half a BILLION dollars!

- As CEO, convinced the SEC to release Goldman from the net capital rule -- exposing the bank to more risk than ever before!

- Also convinced the SEC to lessen regulatory oversight of risk-taking by investment banks!

- Named U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in 2006 -- by fellow Harvard Business School alum George W. Bush!

- As Secretary of the Treasury, charged with overseeing the same banking industry which had made him as rich as Midas!

- In March 2007, said, "An open, competitive, and liberalized financial market can effectively allocate scarce resources in a manner that promotes stability and prosperity far better than governmental intervention"!

- In August 2007, claimed the sub-prime mortgage crisis was "contained"!

- After coming to the aid of Bear Stearns earlier in 2008, in September allowed Lehman Brothers to fail -- sending the global economy into a death spiral!

- On September 15, 2008, called the U.S. banking system "safe and sound"!

- Later that month, asked Congress to give him $700 billion to bail out the banking industry and thaw frozen credit markets!

- Initially tried to get Congress to give him absolute, unchecked power to do what he deemed necessary to save the financial system!

- Told Congress and the public that the bailout money would go towards purchasing "toxic assets" -- but gave the money to his banker buddies instead!

- Gave bailout money to banks with no requirement to use the money to make loans -- and no oversight of how the banks actually use the money!

- Bailout recipients used taxpayer money to pay bankers billions of dollars in "performance related" bonuses!

- Word on the Street is that billions of dollars in AIG bailout money have gone to pay off bets by Goldman that the sub-prime market would collapse!

- Never required that Goldman, or any other bank, reveal the extent of sub-prime mortgage-related investments -- resulting in continuing distrust of banks, and an ongoing credit crunch!

- Under Paulson's watch, two of the four major investment banks disappeared; only Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs -- Paulson's former employer -- remain!

- Claimed that the last thing he wanted to do with the bailout was cause a moral hazard among his banker buddies!

- Diagnosis: utterly deluded, or in possession of deep reserves of chutzpah!

- Idiot!

Ken Lewis

- CEO of the biggest bank in the U.S. -- Bank of America!

- To date, BofA has accepted $45 billion in federal bailout money!

- Started his career in banking in 1969, as -- get this -- a credit analyst!

- In 2008, in the middle of the utter collapse of the global housing market, made the brilliant decision to acquire sub-prime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial -- for $4 billion!

- That same year, spent $50 billion to acquire Merrill Lynch -- despite that bank's massive sub-prime exposure!

- Failed to disclose Merrill's 2008 financial situation to BofA shareholders -- despite having full knowledge of how dire it was!

- Signed off on $3.6 billion in bonuses to Merrill bankers -- despite Merrill's loss of $27 billion in 2008!

- BofA posted a loss of $2.4 billion in 2008 -- but Lewis still received compensation of $9 million!

- Thanks to Lewis' "leadership", BofA may well end up having to be nationalized -- at further great expense to taxpayers -- to prevent the total collapse of the financial system!

- Stunning as it may seem, won American Banker's 2008 Banker of the Year Award!

- One former BofA executive called Lewis "the most dispassionate man I've ever met," adding, "He has ice water in his veins"!

- Last week, in an historic speech before the entire Congress, U.S. President Obama declared that the days of bankers flying on expensive private jets "were over"!

- This week, Lewis flew to New York to meet with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo -- on an expensive private jet!

- Cost to fuel and staff the private jet, per hour: $5,000!

- Cost for a commercial flight from BofA headquarters to New York: $440!

- At the meeting, Lewis refused Cuomo's request for information about the Merrill bonuses he signed off on -- in essence saying, "Up yours, taxpayers!"

- Idiot!

George W. Bush

- The 43rd President of the United States of America!

- Born with a silver spoon in his mouth!

- Like his father and grandfather before him, attended Yale -- where he got Cs!

- Member of Yale's elite Skull & Bones secret society!

- Was a cheerleader in college -- and, later, a cheerleader for deregulation and lower taxes for the super-rich!

- Cokehead, drunk, and failed oilman!

- The nation's first CEO president, ran his country even less effectively than his businesses!

- Pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to meet aggressive targets for loans to low-income home buyers!

- In 2006 pooh-poohed warnings of a looming housing crash!

- In 2007 blamed the subprime-mortgage crash on homeowners with insufficient "financial literacy" -- not deregulated markets or greedy lenders!

- In 2002, demanded that Argentina respond to an economic crisis by instituting free-market reforms!

- In 2008, when the U.S. faced its own economic crisis and the government gave hundreds of billions of dollars to struggling private-sector financial institutions, said, "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system" -- with a straight face!

- Even in 2008, continued to deny that the U.S. economy was in a recession -- and that it was fundamentally strong!

- Granted Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson unprecedented power when credit markets froze, resulting in a haphazardly planned bailout that gave Paulson's banker buddies hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars -- with no direction on how the money should be used, and no oversight of how bankers used it!

- Throughout his presidency, took credit for creating jobs and stock market growth!

- Today the jobless rate is skyrocketing -- and the stock market is lower than it was when Bush took office!

- Thanks to the foreclosure boom caused by Bush policy, today the U.S. homeownership rate is no higher than it was when he entered office!

- Idiot!

Rick Santelli

- In the 1980s, worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert -- the same bank where junk-bond king and convicted felon Michael Milken did his dirty, greedy work!

- Now works for the pro-Wall Street cable TV outfit CNBC, where he appears live from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)!

- Thinks CBOT traders -- most of them rich, white Republicans -- are a "pretty good cross-section of America"!

- In recent years, Santelli and his "cross-section of America" made making a mint trading unregulated derivatives -- until unregulated derivatives ended up cratering the stock market and destroying the economy!

- Recently proposed a "Chicago Tea Party" -- a revolt against the Obama stimulus package!

- Says out loud what most Wall Streeters secretly believe -- that Americans who are coping with foreclosures are "losers"!

- Outraged at those "losers," whom he believes are at fault for the current dire situation -- not at the bankers who aggressively sold and securitized subprime mortgages!

- Has yet to express outrage at bankers who are accepting bailout billions!

- Get this: Believes that the founding fathers -- Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson -- would agree with him!

- In September 2008 -- just a couple of weeks before the markets crashed -- claimed "the economy is healthy"!

- Sounds remarkably like Matt Foley, motivational speaker!

- Recently ripped a new one by Jon Stewart!

- Blowhard -- and idiot!

Joseph Cassano

- In the 1980s, worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert -- the same bank where junk-bond king and convicted felon Michael Milken did his dirty, greedy work!

- More recently, head of insurance giant AIG's financial products division!

- Just by himself, took a 30% cut of his division's profit -- compensation amounting to $280 million over eight years!

- Lives in a luxe 3-story townhouse in a posh London neighborhood -- just around the corner from Harrods, the world's most famous luxury department store!

- Encouraged buyers to "play the power game" -- i.e. aggressively purchase his credit derivatives, which allowed investors to bet that the subprime mortgage market would tank!

- Repeatedly claimed credit derivatives posed no danger to the company or its shareholders!

- When the housing bubble burst in 2007, buyers of credit derivatives from Cassano's group started coming to cash in on their bets -- and AIG was stuck with tens of billions of dollars in losses!

- As a result, AIG -- the world's biggest insurance company -- plunged towards bankruptcy and a bailout costing taxpayers $150 billion!

- Somehow, Cassano still managed to get a $34 million bonus!

- In the words of U.S. Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), Cassano "single-handedly brought AIG to its knees"!

- Fired in February 2008 -- but continued to work for AIG as a $1-million-per-month consultant! (Yes, as in a one with six zeros after it! Per month!)

- Idiot!