Exploding Stars In a stunning series of events, the last few weeks irrevocably changed Wall Street. With aftershocks that not only affected Pratt Street in Baltimore, these events may have determined who will occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next year.

The exploding stars that were sucked into the black hole of the mortgage and credit crisis included the biggest names in investment banking and insurance, and Baltimore’s own Constellation Energy.

The best and the brightest weren’t very good or very bright as it turns out; but they were at least smart enough to give themselves great salaries and bonuses while the fun lasted. And while the good times rolled, they gamed their boards of directors into handsome golden parachutes without regard to whether their companies went down the drain sucking shareholders’ value with it.

As Chairman and CEO, Mayo Shattuck probably implored Warren Buffet to, "Take Constellation Energy, please!" Nominally an energy company, CEG made outsized profits mainly from its energy trading operation that was built on the same type of leveraged borrowing that took down Lehman. The company put itself at risk by betting that its ratings would not get downgraded, knowing (or should have) that it never had the collateral it would need if it did. Where, you might ask, was the board of directors when these decisions were made to bet the company?

Shattuck will be able to attend his last Constellation Golf Classic next month knowing that he will be rewarded with an $18 million + payout that he will take from the sale of CEG. Not so lucky are the thousands of CEG shareholders who saw the value of their shares cut in half in one day.

This latest example of excessive CEO compensation is all the more outrageous given the circumstances around this latest collapse. Let's hope it translates into legislation that places limitations around what companies pay their CEOs, and makes boards of directors more accountable.

It is apparently a goal that the two presidential candidates share, yet neither inspired much confidence in the face of the panic that has enveloped the financial system. Oblivious to the fact that what motivates Wall Street is greed (no one ever accused investment bankers of being in business to make America better), McCain blamed greed even as he defended his own advisor Carla Fiorina’s $20 million severance from Hewlett Packard. Missing that little bit of irony is another example of the cluelessness that is becoming a worrisome pattern for the GOP nominee. But "the best defense is a good offense" (unless it’s the Ravens), as McCain used the line to dodge responsibility for the laissez-faire policies he supported that are at least partially responsible for the excesses he now claims to deplore.

At first, Obama didn’t do much better when his running (at the mouth) mate Biden decreed that they opposed a bailout of AIG. But Obama recovered quickly by supporting Paulson and Bernanke’s rescue plans that, for the time being, stopped the hemorrhaging.

This latest economic kick in the groin should give Obama the election he is seeking. However, with almost a trillion dollars more debt piled onto the Bush deficits and worries of a recession giving way to depression fears, he'll be getting no honeymoon.  4:11 PM •