By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): Well, look at that. There are consequences for our actions. Even in this day and age when it is virtually illegal to step on your neighbor’s toes or wish the corner beggar a Merry Christmas, we are still held responsible for our wrongdoings.

Just ask Balloon Boy’s old man. The trickster just got sentenced to ninety days in jail, with two thirds of the time allocated to a work release program. But even better than his time defending himself from shivs and bathroom sneak attacks is the four-year time span in which it is illegal for him to profit from his eye-popping stunt.

Ben Bernanke is a dubious choice to be named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine. While Time’s Managing Editor Richard Stengel credits him with recognizing early and reacting appropriately to the ongoing financial crisis, in reality, he was wrong time and again with both his predictions and his remedies. Just remember these gems…

For frustrated investors looking to justify the ban of credit default swaps (CDS), look no further than last week’s corporate bankruptcies of Canadian newsprint producer AbitibiBowater Inc. (ABWTQ) and U.S. shopping center developer General Growth Properties Inc. (GGP).

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced yesterday that they are looking very hard at possibly closing a regulatory loophole that allowed some extremely large commodity index funds to get around position limits.

Falling confidence, weak dollar, wasting employment, backtracking GDP… many things point to a recession, but it’s certainly an odd one.

You’ve probably heard the talking heads on CNBC chattering about this currency play. You’ve probably read about this investment “unwinding” or “being back on” in the Wall Street Journal, or in Bloomberg.

About a year ago, my father asked if the Merrill Lynch bond he was thinking of investing in was okay. I looked it over … noted its high rating … and said sure. A little less than a year ago, I was speaking to a vice president of Bank of Nova Scotia. I was asking him about the bank’s exposure to the subprime crisis. He said it was negligible.