MERRILL's Reckless Mortgage Bond Binge

A page one story in the Wall Street Journal, "Merrill Upped Ante as Boom In Mortgage Bonds Fizzled," tells the sorry tale of how the brokerage giant did so much damage to itself via a pathological disregard for risk at the very time when the mortgage markets were about to sour. The firm is still taking losses from this misadventure; it's expected to announce an additional $6 to $8 billion in writedowns for the first quarter. Some items have been recounted elsewhere, such as Mer