Thanks for the list Obey. We got a leg up right out of the gate with more Ds than Rs. My rep, a D, is on the committee. He's a first termer but OK so far.

One of the links I gave goes to the Frontline show, 'The Warning', that stilli put us onto the other day. That really covered the derivatives issue very well. If you haven't already viewed it I can recommend it.

You make a good point about how to undo these things and how to manage them when one messes up. That was a huge issue in the fall of 2008 because there was no mechanism at all establishing that process. Treasury was flying blind right from the beginning. In many ways I think that is still true today because I know Geithner supposedly spends a portion of every day in direct consult with key players because there is no established guidance for what they are still working through. That is really a very bad sitiuation because to develop policy on the fly like that out of sight of the public and without congressional oversight raises some serious issues. I don't like it one bit. Mostly because I don't trust any of them.

the compensation limitations....are side-issues

"Side issue" maybe too kind, maybe more like pap for fools?

Reading this just now

Ex-A.I.G. Chief Is Back, Luring Talent From Rescued Firm
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

....Mr. Greenberg may have received some unintended assistance from the United States Treasury. Just last week, the Treasury severely limited pay at A.I.G. and other companies that were bailed out by taxpayers. That may hasten the exodus of A.I.G.’s talent, sending more refugees into Mr. Greenberg’s arms, since C. V. Starr is free to pay whatever it wants.

“Basically, he’s just starting ‘A.I.G. Two’ and raiding people out of ‘A.I.G. One,’ ” said Douglas A. Love, an insurance executive who has also hired A.I.G. talent for his company, Investors Guaranty Fund of Pembroke, Bermuda.

While America generally loves stories of entrepreneurs making a comeback, Mr. Greenberg’s success may be at the expense of taxpayers. People who work in the industry say that if he is already luring A.I.G.’s people, he may soon be siphoning off its business and, therefore, its means to repay its debt to the government.

“To me, it’s just going to be a matter of time before the valuation of what he’s building is greater than the valuation of A.I.G.,” said Andrew J. Barile, an insurance consultant in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

While America generally loves stories of entrepreneurs making a comeback, Mr. Greenberg’s success may be at the expense of taxpayers. People who work in the industry say that if he is already luring A.I.G.’s people, he may soon be siphoning off its business and, therefore, its means to repay its debt to the government.

“To me, it’s just going to be a matter of time before the valuation of what he’s building is greater than the valuation of A.I.G.,” said Andrew J. Barile, an insurance consultant in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

....his battles with A.I.G. now largely resolved, Mr. Greenberg is free to use that money as the seed for his latest ventures.

....As to whether Mr. Greenberg was poaching his former employees, Mr. Wolosky said, “C. V. Starr does employ a number of former A.I.G. personnel, but far fewer than the global insurance companies that are A.I.G.’s direct competitors.” He declined to provide a specific number.

....Treasury officials said their special master for pay, Kenneth R. Feinberg, was aware that if he set pay standards that were too stringent, he could further harm A.I.G....

Unlike A.I.G., C. V. Starr is privately held, so there is no stock to entice investors, and no disclosure of financial information. Little is known about its business plan, although it has been announcing ventures to insure things as diverse as wayward corporate directors and construction accidents on the bridges and roads being built under the Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus program.

The firm seems to be focusing on the specialized lines of business insurance that once made A.I.G. stand out. The government had hoped to leave those businesses at A.I.G. intact after selling off most of its other operations, like life insurance and household finance....

What regulations are needed and would work is waaay over my head, but just reading this one article, makes me foresee a lot of private companies being "the next big thing."

One thing I do have a little experience seeing is how IRS code is used by non government agents like an instruction manual on how to practice tax minimization, and how much code can become counter productive to the goals of those who wrote it, so I get the general problem.

Lord, we do need really smart people working on this.

Do we have any? Heh, speaking of salaries, will the really smart people work for government salaries on this? Thinking on that, I begin to maybe see a logic in why Obama seemed at times to want to hang on to Geithner and Summers types for dear life, in spite of the the populism problems they present for him politically. Turns out you need some foxes in the henhouse as it were?