Slouching Toward Reform while Lehman seeks another Brother, or a Sister

While everyone is talking about the end of the primary season you can bet Wall Street and Capitol Hill banking types are more focused on two stories today. First in the Wall Street Journal's, "Lehman Is Seeking Overseas Capital" and second the New York Times' "Rating Firms Seem Near Legal Deal on Reforms". Why you care about these two articles is because it shows that while Wall Street is acknowledging that those who rate investment companies and products for potential investors are getting played off one another by the very people they are supposed to be evaluating. This, of course, is something we have been focusing on here for a while and most recently on our post, "Is this the U.S.' Plan to Prevent the Next Wall Street Meltdown?". Fixing the problem will eventually bring confidence back to Wall Street which is good for your pocketbook and 401k. Meanwhile, the Lehman Brothers story is a reminder that we are not out of the woods yet. If you read two financial stories today, these are them.