The Wall Street Journal Thursday reported that no less than 71% of companies with Standard and Poor’s credit ratings had junk-quality ratings – BB and below—in 2006, up from 32% in 1980. An astounding 42% of companies with credit ratings were rated single B, the lowest possible credit rating that isn’t vulnerable to immediate default. […]

The SEC recently decided that executive stock options should be disclosed in the table of management compensation only over the life of the deal, not up-front. It knew it was being naughty, so it announced this the Friday before Christmas. Only the unsleeping vigilance of incoming House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D.-MA), ever […]