"Bankers Offer 'Profound and Unreserved' Apologies"

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What?! Contrition and regret from the "masters of the universe"?!

Wait -- those are British bankers, not our own Wall Street darlings. What a shock to read that the heads of two of Britains biggest banks offering an APOLOGY to the British Treasury Select Committee investigating their own banking crisis for their actions that led to their banks being taken largely into public ownership. Doesn't it seem that our US bankers are more irked than anything about their current state of affairs, insistent on retaining free reign over bonuses in order to keep the "quality" people that put is in this crisis? They continue to ignore the essential connection between greed and the incessant drive toward short-term results and the bonus system that seems for them to be the raison d'etre for their existence.

Why isn't our own Congress and the PUBLIC, after 8 years of across-the-board policy arrogance from the Bush Administration, not demanding more examination of conscience by our financial leaders? After investing the first half of TARP already in bailing out Wall Street's biggest institutions, and making plans for the disposition of the remainder, we are still not using the dirty "N" word -- nationalization. It's too hot a designation for anyone to touch, but are we not at least acknowledging that public investment in the bailout equals, at least in some measure, public ownership and the accountability and transparency and some measure of control that normally attends actual ownership?

Our House of Representatives is calling in Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citi to discuss how they are using federal bailout money. I love the 12 Questions That Bank Bosses Must Answer Today by The Guardian's Dan Roberts. It will be interesting to see how deeply our Representatives drill down for answers and press for accountability and -- just maybe? -- some expression of regret.