Despite a slew of damaging revelations Jack Lew has been confirmed by the Senate. With a 71-26 vote Lew received more Republican support than Chuck Hagel. On some level Lew’s easy confirmation is a testament to how much influence Wall Street has in Washington but it still is interesting to compare the two nominations and their confirmation fights when you look at the actual evidence.

President Obama’s Treasury Secretary nominee not only worked for the Citigroup hedge fund that shorted the housing market, invested in off-shore tax havens, and took a nice bonus from TARP money – he had a provision written into his employment contract that encouraged him to return to government service.

Jack Lew’s nomination for Treasury Secretary was already proving to be contentious but now questions are being raised on Lew’s personal financial activities. Lew reportedly made an offshore investment in the Cayman Islands that may have been an attempt to avoid taxes.

Tim Geithner’s first post-Treasury Secretary job will be as a “distinguished fellow” at the Council On Foreign Relations. For the uninitiated, the Council On Foreign Relations is a more or less open conspiracy to use the American government as a vessel for advancing Big Business’ interests abroad. CFR represents America’s commercial oligarchy in all its glory. And as the power has shifted within the American business community to finance capital so too has CFR come to be dominated by Wall Street’s agenda and personnel.

After a global financial crisis, an epic price fixing scandal, and embarrassing criminal conduct British regulators are considering ending Too Big To Fail Banking. British Finance Minister George Osborne has proposed legislation that if banks do not shield their riskier investment activities from day to day banking they will face restructuring.

Last night Frontline aired a program on the Department of Justice’s failure to prosecute Wall Street executives over fraud in the mortgage market that caused the 2008 financial crisis. The program included compelling testimony from the “due diligence underwriters” those responsible for the integrity of the loans that were being originated from firms like Countrywide (now Bank of America) then chopped up into derivatives and sold by Wall Street to the world.

ack Lew, veteran of Citigroup and current White House Chief of Staff, will be our next Treasury Secretary.

Bull by the Horns is the story of financial calamity seen from the perspective of this public servant, rendered from detailed notes. We learn with whom she met, what was said, what decisions taken, and how things turned out. She begins with the battles over deregulation of the banks (Basel II), with the gathering sub-prime storm, and proceeds through the disaster: WaMu, Wachovia, Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG, Citigroup again. And then the battles of the aftermath, over among other things Dodd-Frank, Basel III and the robosigning frauds. This is a book for aficionados of infuriating detail.

If anyone deserves a $6.7 million bonus, it’s the CEO who squandered 88% of his company’s stock value.

Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup, who presided over some of the worst years in the history of the bank, abruptly stepped down today. He will be replaced by longtime Citi executive Michael Corbat. Here’s Pandit’s statement.