What was so astounding was 'the game.' The ego driven game. Wall Street had NO CLUE or they were to scared to allow anyone to believe the worst was about to happen.

The man at the head of the OTS (Office of Thrift Supervision) was James Gilleran. That’s him holding the chain saw. What’s he doing with the chain saw? He’s “cutting red tape for the financial industry, chopping away regulations, abolishing restrictions”. His four friends in the photo are heads of other regulatory agencies. The photo was taken in 2003 “to highlight the Bush administration’s commitment to reducing regulation”.

Gilleran was appointed to the office of OTS in 2001 by his boss, then Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, a Bush appointee. He had been a heavy contributor to Republican candidates running for office. In his job, Gilleran oversaw thrifts & thrift holding companies worth more than $1 trillion in assets. Does that particular number ring a bell? Two other big banks that failed under the watchful eye of the OTS was IndyMac and Washington Mutual. I’d say OTS is really on top of everything, wouldn’t you?

(Don't get IndyMac confused with FreddyMac.  Two different entities.)

The Dow never reached 14,000 because of Wall Street genius.  It reached it because of lack of it and a lot of hot air and ALL the assets 'in play' from 'The American Dream.'

Dow Reaches & Retreats From 14,000



Tuesday, July 17, 2007
 
...AL GOLDMAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, A.G. EDWARDS: But after you get up to and surpass a big round popular number, you tend to go into a little pause to refresh. So I wouldn't be surprised to see the market do a little siesta for a couple or three days or something like that. But, the trend is up and I assume that the next important stopping point will be 15,000.
PRATT: Bank of America's Joe Quinlan is also in the bullish camp, predicting the Dow will tack on an additional 3 to 5 percent by year end and hit 15,000 in 2008.
JOSEPH QUINLAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, BANK OF AMERICA: I would put the odds at 15,000 on the assumption that U.S. economy continues to expand, the Fed is on hold, interest rates stay in that range bound, say 5.25. We don't think they are going to go much higher than that. I am concerned about oil prices though....