Andrew Ross Sorkin uses his column today to highlight to troubles of those suffering the most from the downturn: the CEOs of major banks who bought up failing competitors in the midst of the financial crisis. Jamie Dimon, J.P. Morgan’s CEO, get center stage for having to deal with Bear Stearns’ legal liabilities, but Sorkin also has some tears for Wells Fargo, which bought up Wachovia, and Bank of America, which took over Merrill Lynch.

The next Administration, whoever it may be, will feature a new direction on policies around economic and finance issues. That’s because, even if Barack Obama wins re-election, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has announced that he would leave his post. So you either get a Romney Presidency and an entirely new direction on these policies, or a second Obama term and a potential new direction. With fiscal issues sure to take prominence in 2013, this is a critical changeover.

So who’s on the Washington short list?

Yesterday, Bank of America fired off one of their biggest settlements yet, spending $2.4 billion to quiet claims with investors over their purchase of Merrill Lynch.

This was outright securities fraud, and I’m more than surprised that the investors plaintiffs, led by public pension funds in Ohio and Texas, accepted this.

The information in the shareholder lawsuit includes sworn testimony from Ken Lewis, the former Bank of America CEO, admitting that he received the large loss estimates on the Merrill deal. Shareholders didn’t hear about the Merrill losses until two days after approval. This looks like an open and shut case of BofA defrauding its investors.

The giant investment banks like to pretend they are high class, but every once in a while you see them for the ass-lickers they are. Take this article in the New York Times, describing the efforts of the big finance companies to woo newly rich tech people as clients. Goldman Sachs took one of these guys for a factory tour of Tesla and to see a screening of the last Harry Potter flick. There are a lot of people who will make a bunch of money as a new round of IPOs for Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga hit the market, and the insiders will get rich. It won’t just be the top dogs, either. There will be plenty of money going to developers and even (gasp) administrative assistants.

There are a plethora of books written, and yet to be written, about what lead up to the 2008 financial crisis, but even so, All the Devils are Here stands out. Co-authors, Bethany McLean (co-author of the bestselling, documentary-inspiring book on the Enron scandal, The Smartest Guys in the Room) and Joe Nocera (Award winning New York Times business columnist), expertly weave a narrative that captures not just the elements, but the characters of the crisis; the human flaws, choices and repercussions perpetrated by a small, dispersed collection of very dangerous people.

There’s a large cottage industry that would relish the opportunity to pore through BofA documents and take the bank down. This could prove far more damaging than the State Department cables, which have actually been substantive, but which have been drowned out by the focus on Wikileaks and Julian Assange.

The WaPo reports that an SEC Inspector General report shows that the SEC gave Bank of America lenient treatment when it fined BoA for its funny business surrounding the Merrill Lynch acquisition, but did not place limits on BoA’s ability to issue securities that would normally be placed on a firm that violates securities law. The whole thing sort of makes you wonder about what other special treatment BoA has been getting all this time, all in an effort to avoid admitting that it is insolvent. Maybe Julian Assange can help us out there?

You can tell that financial reform will be the next heavy lift in Washington because everyone’s chattering about it today, and proposing a variety of solutions. But they actually come down to something a lot simpler than what’s being proposed: regulators need a few clear rules, and they need to do their jobs.

Bank of America may be trying to save face by saying they are going to waive attorney client privilege, but they know — and we know — that they waived the privilege back when they claimed reliance on advice of counsel to the SEC.