The SEC apparently couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if you gave them a shotgun and directions.

You did not have to have any training as an investigator to do the kinds of follow-up that might have revealed this.

It seems to me almost a certainty, given how bad things were with Madoff, that there are probably other Ponzi schemes.

Again, you do not have to be Albert Einstein to figure out you ought to get some third-party verification and not accept the potential defrauder at their word.

Yes, but it is not close to enough.

The pace of reforms is rapid, but it needs to keep that same pace going forward.

Just to reiterate, the kind of legislation I have introduced is really very much needed.

What do you think of the proposal, all three of you, that I made, which is that the SEC should be able to use the fees that it gets?

But I think what they are saying here is you wouldn't call a hotline.

It almost seems they had an attitude that they did not want to find things.

The bottom line is, while the SEC may need new laws and new tools, they had all the laws necessary on the books to catch Madoff.

So you are saying that the basic system of incentives probably was not just neutral, but pushed people away from doing a thorough investigation.

I was still stunned by the details of your report.

Are you able and willing to fire people who just are not up to the job?

It was just sheer incompetence.

It depends who turns over.

I worry not only about the SEC's ability to catch the next swindler, but also about its ability to do its most basic job.

You know, this is just so confounding. You are saying your staff was competent. They have the tools.

Do the top salaries have to be raised, or what you can pay for some certain key people have to be raised?

Would you support the concept of the bill I plan to introduce that would result in millions more dollars in funding for the SEC?

If you could go lower, would you give them a lower grade than that?

Look, I am not asking you how you have corrected it.

So you would support the proposal I made.

I am proposing, in addition to Senator Reed's bill and the Administration's proposal, that for every ten rated products, the SEC would randomly assign a different rating agency.

We cannot overestimate the impact this had on the financial crisis.