It’s very helpful to have a 2,200-page report, more than a year later, on what we knew already. To wit:
Dick Fuld! You’re a BAD BOY!
Former Lehman executives? Your behavior “ranged from serious but non-culpable errors of business judgment to actionable balance sheet manipulation.” Naughty, naughty business executives! I seriously hope that you feel very guilty spending all that severance you received when you were heaved overboard!
Ernst & Young! Shame on you! You knew about the Repo 105 gambit that accountants for Lehman were using to hide blodgetts on their stinky balance sheet — but you did nothing! It’s the woodshed for you! What? You don’t agree? Your statement says, “Our opinion indicated that Lehman’s financial statements for that year were fairly presented in accordance with GAAP, and we remain of that view.” You do? Really? Well we have a 2,200-page report that does not seem to agree, gentlemen! What about THAT, huh? Well?
I guess they’re busy.
I had breakfast with a Wall Street type this morning. We talked about the report a little bit. He seemed to find it something of a yawn. I inquired whether he thought these revelations would lead to profound and lasting changes in the way our markets function. He ate a berry and thoughtfully replied, “People are getting awful tired of regulation.”
“Which people?” I asked him. “Because it’s my perception that a lot of people are actually looking for some increased oversight of the financial industry.”
“Oh, certainly,” he said.
“So which people are tired of all this talk about regulation?”
“You know,” he said. “The Street.”
So I take it back. Maybe a 2,200-page report telling us what we already know is necessary. Maybe several more are necessary. Because maybe there’s actually nothing we already know. Or maybe we’ve already forgotten it.