Everyone keeps saying how lucky we are that the “crotch” bomber on Flight 253 was unable to ignite the explosives hidden in his underwear, but I am sorry to report  that  the attack was a actually a huge success.  The plane was not destroyed and no lives were lost, but the larger, strategic goals of al Qaeda were certainly advanced.

Too many Americans, and many in our Department of Homeland Security, forget that al Qaeda targeted our economic power and symbols on 9/11.   The goal, as Osama bin Laden announced, was to force, or cause the US to take actions, that would erode our economic prosperity and weaken us as a  nation .

Unfortunately, we have given bin Laden a victory he does not deserve.  DHS has, for some time, been unaware that the failure of many of the security measures and procedures that they have championed, has resulted in additional, self inflicted wounds.

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Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer took to the New York Times OP-ED page to call for the full release of a AIG corporate e-mails to determine how and why the company crashed.

This is the same Eliot Spitzer who stonewalled attempts by the New York State Senate Committee on Investigations and the New York Commission on Ethics to obtain the E-Mails of Spitzer and his top aides surrounding the abuse of power in his using the New York State Police to spy on his political opponents. Likewise, Spitzer attempted to prevent his top aides from testifying. This man’s hypocrisy knows no bounds.

The idea of former New York Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer criticizing the AIG bailout is ridiculous; Spitzer is responsible for the economic condition of the company for which they needed a bailout. In fact, Spitzer’s crackdown on Wall Street caused the firms to increase leverage because he took away the ability for them to make money in research and underwriting, and they looked for other ways to make money; like securitizing subprime mortgages.

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In the wake of the massive bank bailouts, nearly everyone is calling for some kind of financial regulatory system overhaul. The Obama administration has outlined what it would like to see and Congress is currently holding hearings on how to best reform the regulatory structure. But the lobbying began long ago.

Big banks are squaring off against smaller banks in the debate over consolidating national banking regulatory powers. All banks are lining up against financial institutions like hedge funds on the regulation of products like derivatives. Even the regulating agencies are competing against each other in hopes of garnering more power.

Unfortunately, if Congress makes choices on political criteria alone, reforms are likely to damage the country’s economic recovery.

Instead, there are three guiding principles that lawmakers should bear in mind when writing new regulations for Wall Street.

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