THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

That is the story of Ben Stein in his column this week. He does, however, warn us that our pockets will continue to be picked by the B.S.D* that have caused all the troubles in the first place.

NOW, let me go back to my role as Little Benjy Sunshine. None of this will sink our glorious economy. The losses are nothing compared with the losses in the tech debacle. They will be nothing like the numbers bandied about in the fear-mongering media. If there is a questionable $200 billion pool of loans, that means a small percent will be lost, not all of it. This big, strong economy will sail on through.

But the vicious, cruel truth is that some very greedy, selfish and, yes, stupid men made fortunes on deals that were economically and/or ethically wrong. (Why else hide them off balance sheet or abroad?) They got immense fees, stunning paychecks and the inheritance of maharajahs. Their great-grandchildren will be rich from their deeds and misdeeds. As far as I can tell, they are not being called to account in any major way. The ones at the top aren’t fired or, if they are fired, are fired very rich. (Never mind that silly mouth music from Citigroup about “the year of no excuses.”) Despite what looks to me like a breathtaking lack of disclosure, I have not seen any lawsuits by the Securities and Exchange Commission against any of these big money-center princes or principalities — not to mention criminal investigations from other law enforcement authorities.

And we stockholders and taxpayers foot the bill, of course. But even this is not the worst part: there are still lots of people who can say with a straight face that the world of finance is overregulated, that we should trust the power players to do the right thing, that if we put finance under a microscope, or allow financial miscreants to be sued for misconduct, America will be harmed. There are still people, and I know many of them well, who believe that old myth that you can trust the markets to fix everything — that old magical thinking that some thieves will stop other thieves from robbing the sheep like us. That’s the really sad part. Some babies never learn.

And day by day there is less and less we can do about it. I suppose you could try sewing fishhooks in your pockets.

* Big Swinging Dicks for those of genteel sensibilities.