Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - The intellectual shortcomings of our elected leaders are never so apparent as when Congress wades into matters of business. Michael Lewis offers one vignette from last Monday's hearings of the House Financial Services Committee:

There, as [WorldCom's] Jack Grubman and Bernie Ebbers stared stoically into the middle distance, California's Maxine Waters referred to the corrupt research reports of a Wall Street investment bank she called "Salomon Barney Frank.'' And she was reading from a prepared statement.

Lewis says "it doesn't really matter whether a politician is able to distinguish between Smith Barney and Barney Frank, or to know that EBITA is not a brand of beer." (Actually, Mike, it's EBITDA.) I don't know if I can agree. I saw similar embarrassing displays of ignorance by the House Transportation Committee last September when the panel hauled airline executives before them to discuss the post-9/11 industry bailout. Ellen Tauscher of California was a pleasant surprise, but her insightful questions and thoughtful analysis of the business and financial issues presented were the exception that proved the rule. Go figure - she was a Wall Street investment banker for 14 years.