Maybe so, but that was a lot for my malarkey meter to absorb.

Then, on Thursday, my meter sputtered as Alan Greenspan, former “Maestro” of the Federal Reserve, testified before the same Congressional questioners. He defended years of regulatory inaction in the face of predatory lending and said he was “in a state of shocked disbelief” that financial institutions did not rein themselves in when there were billions to be made by relaxing their lending practices and trafficking in exotic derivatives.

Mr. Greenspan was shocked, shocked to find that there was gambling going on in the casino.

MY poor, overtaxed, smoke-and-mirrors meter gave out altogether when Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, took his turn on the committee’s hot seat. His agency had allowed Wall Street firms to load up on leverage without increasing its oversight of them. But he said on Thursday that the credit crisis highlights “the need for a strong S.E.C., which is unique in its arm’s-length independence from the institutions and persons it regulates.”

He said that with a straight face, too.

There was more. Mr. Cox went on to suggest that his hapless agency should begin regulating credit-default swaps.

This, recall, is that $55 trillion market at the heart of almost every big corporate failure and near-collapse of recent months. Trading in these swaps, which offer insurance against debt defaults, exploded in recent years. As the market for the swaps grew, so did the risks  and the interconnectedness  among the firms that traded them.

During the years when these risks were ramping up unregulated, Mr. Cox and his crew were silent on the swaps beat.