$$$Cynicism aside, why the NY AG's MBS suit vs JPMorgan matters [Reuters]

$$$Wall Street Equities Traders Face Worst Year Since 2006 [Bloomberg]

$$$ Also investment banking fee revenues are down [Deal Journal]

$$$Ackman Steps Up Pressure on General Growth [DealBook]

$$$ "The increasingly mandarin elite, hygienically removed from the grubby business of scrounging for customers, frequently seems to have no idea at all what goes on in companies." [Megan McArdle]

$$$ "The U.S., in fact, is a serial offender, an addict whose habit extends beyond weed or cocaine and who frequently pleasures itself with budgetary crystal meth." - Bill Gross [PIMCO, via FT]

$$$Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dodges Rape Charges Again [DI]

$$$ A Midtown Manhattan boutique brokerage firm is looking for a "punctual," "money motivated" candidate without a Series 7 to be a stockbroker trainee [DBCC]

$$$Wall Street empties as regulations bite [FT]

$$$ Justice Antonin Scalia's son is good at fighting financial regulation [WSJ]

$$$Vanguard Shakes Up Index Business [IndexUniverse]

$$$ Play the Economic Dream Team Machine game [Reuters]

$$$ Yale canceled its Safety Dance because the “risk and liability of the Safety Dance are too great for us to continue having it.” [YDN]

$$$Photo of baby doing keg stand spurs Arizona State University to investigate [Fox]