Spitzer was trying to clean up Wall Street

[babsbunny]

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/wall-street-on-spitzer-there-is-a-god/

As news that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a prostitution ring swept Wall Street Monday afternoon, the reaction can be described in one word: schadenfreude.

The cause? Mr. Spitzer, for years the state’s attorney general, had served as the scourge of the Street, meting out punishment for a litany of sins like the Furies of mythology. Armed with the Martin Act, Mr. Spitzer took on investment banks, insurance companies and the New York Stock Exchange for their transgressions, giving other attorneys general a model for assuming the Mr. Clean mantle.

On CNBC, markets reporter Bob Pisani quoted an unnamed trader’s reaction, which spoke for the vast majority on Wall Street. “There is a God,” the trader was quoted as saying.