The front page of today’s New York Times is running a headline that reads “Fed Shrugged as Subprime Crisis Spread.”  The article accurately describes how federal regulators either ignored (Alan Greenspan) or actively supported (OCC) the fraud that inevitably arose from federal policies. The story slogs heavily along with nary a mention of all of us who fought to both stop the practices and to warn the public.   There is not a word about those AG’s – Roy Cooper in NC, Tom Miller in IA, Chris Gregoire in WA, Eliot Spitzer in NY to name but four – nor of those non-profits such as the Center for Responsible Lending or my client, the AARP.  The story is a complete failure in letting the world know that the Feds were not only wrong, but that they were willfully wrong in ignoring the many, many entreaties that came their way from the non-greed impaired.

Everyone has a favorite children’s book – “The Story of Ferdinand” comes to mind along with “Blueberries for Sal” (yes, it is true…Sal is a lawyer practicing in Maine…) – but the story that fits today’s NYT piece is clearly “Horton Hears a Who”.   Perhaps the next time the NYT does a piece on federal failures they will come to see that too many of our federal officials are like the Wickersham Brothers and the Sour Kangaroo.  If they learn to listen to the states – not unlike how Whoville finally heard Jo Jo – the smallest Who of all – then perhaps next time we will all be saved from the beelzenut stew.