Candidate for man of the year

Admittedly, similar to my smart friend Larry, I have Libertarian tendencies. Nevertheless, I am quite put-out by the opaque handling of the Merrill bonuses. Billions of dollars of taxpayer went out as bonuses to folk who brought a company to its knees, and its head to the M&A chopping block. The SEC has been notably silent about who knew what and when about all this.

Rather than blindly accepting yet another 'slap on the wrist' settlement, Judge Jed S. Rakoff wants to know more. He's requested, and will publicly release the information that we should know, before deciding to accept, or deny the SEC settlement with Merrill.

Here's the NY Times article describing his perspective. Also, just in, is the B of A response. The SEC will file its response by the end of the day.