Should Eliot Spitzer be forgiven?

In light of all the recent Republican sexual shenanigans, I think it's time to forgive Eliot Spitzer a little, while reminding him that he should never be like the Republicans again!

The big case of the day was the one overturned by the Supremes. It was big because President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotmayor made the ruling.

But then there's this one. Not insignificant either. And it shows Eliot Spitzer doing what he did best before he screwed his life up.

If Republican Mark Sanford remains Governor of South Carolina after his Aregentian adventures, then perhaps it is incumbent on the rest of us to listen to Eliot Spitzer, a lot.

Cuomo v. Clearing House Association got its start in 2005, when then-New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer discovered that many major banks operating in his state were making a disproportionate number of high-interest loans to minorities. He sent letters to Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citi, and other big banks seeking information about their lending practices. Rather than respond to the request, the banks sued Spitzer through their trade group, the Clearing House Association, arguing that Spitzer's request violated federal banking rules. source: Mother Jones

The deal is, everybody keep your pants on. That's the deal. Solve the problems. Keep your britches on. I know that's not literally possible, but you know what I'm sayin'.

At least I hope you do.

Prostitution and Wall Street Executives: 'The Best Little Whore House on Wall Street'

Wall Street Madam, Ms. Davis says that business tanked for her escort agency when former Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York went down due to his own illegal and hypocritical dalliances.

There is no evidence disclosed in this interview that Execs have been using bailout funds to finance personal stimulative affect.

This doesn't mean that down the road it won't come back to bite them on the hind end, but not in a good way.

GM, the SEC, Capitalism, Competition: Look to Apple and the Seve Jobs Model

Eliot Spitzer has an article in Slate today, which I actually read all the way through, in large part due to the fact that he is a disgraced governor because of a prostitution scandal.

Everybody deserves another chance.

Comparing the failures of the SEC and GM and bringing in a factor of competition, Spitzer had this to say.

The contrast to the real marketplace, where a company like Apple has to reinvent itself every product cycle, is remarkable. GM and the SEC need the Steve Jobs mentality. It doesn't matter that the SEC is a government agency. Instead of focusing on cookie-cutter processing of minor claims, it needs to value creativity. It needs to move fast so that tipsters will feel that their information will be acted upon, not shuffled up in triplicate to a committee that eons later may read and discard it. Both GM and the SEC need to see a change in market conditions as an opportunity—not a challenge to market share.

We must rebuild these two institutions. If we don't infuse them with a culture of change and love of competition, they will fail once again. The SEC should go out and hire some of the young, recently laid-off traders from hedge funds and investment banks. They need work, and better than any group of lawyers or agent-investigators, they know what trading patterns and practices to examine and where to drop subpoenas to find the skeletons. The SEC should welcome the creative tension that results from having state regulators or other federal agencies such as the CFTC on the beat. And GM should use government funding for green technology to truly transform itself: It should build the infrastructure for plug-in technology that will be the next iteration of "gas stations." source: Slate

Then I decided to poke around see what's up with Eliot Spitzer besides this piece in Slate.

Apparently, he does not really have an appetite for being a columnist.

John Gapper got this comment from Spitzer when asked how he was enjoying being a columnist during a Slate holiday gathering in mid-December.

I went over afterwards to ask him how he was enjoying life as a columnist. “It sucks,” he said with a grin. “I used to be governor of New York”. source: Financial Times

Well. All I can say is that at least someone is reading your column Mr. Spitzer. I did and perhaps I will again.