How do you get puff pieces on the cover of Time Magazine? Inquiring minds want to know.

The NYT discovers what FDL readers have known for quite some time: the SEC is a doormat outside the banks and financial institutions of Wall Street.

But it’s not just people outside the SEC who see this. The Partnership for Public Service took data from annual OPM employee surveys of government workers and discovered that in 2011, the SEC ranked at or near the bottom in the “large agency” category, dragged down by abysmal ratings for the employees’ views of the effectiveness of the leaders and the leaders’ strategic management.

Whether seen from the inside or the outside, the conclusion is the same: the SEC is failing at its mission. For the banks, this is a feature, not a bug.

Today’s banksters are direct spiritual descendants of the mentality that gave us the Great Depression.

This is not right. You are not alone. This must change. With these three phrases, the mighty are brought down and the lowly lifted up.

On this Thanksgiving Weekend, I am thankful for all who stand up to bullies.

Pending home sales fell again in September, yet another of the bad signals coming out of a broken housing market, one of the biggest challenges for economic growth. Residential investment as a share of GDP is now shockingly low, below any point in the past 60 years.

Researchers compared actual productivity data with compensation rates and employee rank note that pay for executives is inflated and for low-level workers is depressed.

Another sign of reality’s well known liberal bias.

Meanwhile, the elites are coming out of their shells and beginning to flaunt their wealth again in their purchases of luxury goods. Ooops — my bad. I mean “hyper luxury” goods. Mere luxuries aren’t sufficient to be able to properly fashionably flaunt yourself any more.

Me, I’m slumming today in my faded jeans with a torn and paint-splattered t-shirt, as it’s painting day in my mansion and I’m really into fashionably flaunting my not-so-hyper non-luxury.

The SEC has told Standard and Poor’s that they may file civil charges over the rating agency’s role in a 2007 mortgage backed securities deal. The formal warning of potential imminent charges, known as a Wells notice, was delivered yesterday.

Both of the provisions quoted will most likely be removed long before the Jobs bill gets anywhere near a vote, thanks to the captive legislators from both parties which makes the whining about it that much more irritating and ludicrous.

Bernanke can’t understand why consumers aren’t acting in accordance with his understanding of rationality. Mary Schapiro and Robert Khuzami of the SEC don’t punish people for securities fraud. They all should look to the past for help understanding how to do their jobs.

Every quarterly earnings statement and public comment from banks in the post-bubble period contains some discussion of a reserve fund for mortgage losses and liabilities. They always attach a dollar amount to it. If BofA knew about an AIG lawsuit seven months ago that would reshape the extent of their mortgage liabilities, and chose not to reveal that information, that’s a serious error. Is it criminal? Hard to say. The SEC has requested more disclosure on these matters. But if I were a BofA shareholder, I’d be mighty unhappy today.