On the heels of JP Morgan and its powerhouse law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz mucking up the guaranty agreement with Bear Stearns, yesterday saw a couple more major goofs come to light.

First, the Pentagon just discovered that the helicopter batteries it thought it sent to Taiwan a year and a half ago were actually nose-cone fuses for Minuteman nuclear missile warheads. Officials could not explain how the absence of the fuses was not discovered during standard inventory reviews carried out four times a year.

And then there is Hilary's truth-defying recollection of her death-defying 1996 trip to Bosnia. No political bias here, but I had a real tough time watching her and James Carville trying to huff the matter away. "This happens in politics," said Jim, while Hil went with "I'm only human." Actually, my dear, you aspire to the Presidency of the United States, so you'll have to do better than that. The boldfacedness is truly disconcerting--along with the culture that absorbs rather than exiles such deceit.

There's an erosion happening here, as insidious as a creeping disease. Moral hazards everywhere, which neatly segues me to my current best mate in the world, even though we've never met. That's Financial Times blogger Willem Buiter, whose CV far exceeds mine, but whose BS-ometer is tuned into my frequency. To wit, his raking of BS/JPM, with the inviting last line of "Time for a tax payer class action suit?"

Mick Jagger sang lustily about the "Street Fighting Man" in 1968 (only to pussy out hard when dealing with the Altamont mess a year later). Will there come a point when the 2008 man has had enough, with the sucking chest wound of trust and responsibility chief among our multiple downward spirals?

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