The housing bubble and subsequent "Great Recession" have tarnished the stars of a good many of the world's financial wizards, such as the former heads at Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch. But one respected image remains -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- on top: Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A).

That's according to a recent quarterly poll of investors, traders, and analysts who subscribe to Bloomberg terminals, those somewhat cryptic news and data computers that are ubiquitous on Wall Street. Buffett, who received favorable nods from 25% of those participating in the poll, walked away with a plurality of the vote, Bloomberg News reported.

Remember the heyday of the housing boom when investors would "flip" properties? Speculators would put a down payment on a property, usually a new construction, and sell it before it was completed with a fat profit. But the "flippers" got bagged when the price of real estate started dropping. Many just walked away from their deposits and left developers holding the bag.

Why is this idea of flipping real estate important now? Well, it seems that private equity investors buying troubled banks will be prohibited from "flipping" the bank for at least three years. In addition, regulators are requiring purchasers to maintain a capital ratio of 15%, three times the ratio required of other banks.

When Mr. Dimon says, "When I hear the constant vilification of corporate America, I personally don't understand it," he sounds like Greenspan when he said: "there is a flaw in the model -- that defines how the world works."

Both men are going merrily along without a clue about what the American people and their representatives in Congress are up in arms about.

The banking crisis is getting more and more bizarre by the minute. The US Treasury has poured billions of dollars down a bottomless pit and is getting nowhere. Congress and the US Treasury are unwilling to face the fact that some of our big banks are insolvent.Wasting more taxpayer money is breach of their responsibility to the American people.

A source speaking on the condition of anonymity said: "the largest banks are well capitalized for current conditions."

If this is true why doesn't someone tell these bankers to "knock it off" and stop scaring everyone in order to get more free money?

In the heat of the moment very often bad decisions are made. According to OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the decision by the U.S. Treasury to shift the TARP money away from buying toxic bank assets to simply giving money to the banks was the wrong move.

OECD outlined steps to follow to return the banking industry to a sound footing: First, bank assets must be guaranteed to avoid a run on the banks. Second, toxic assets must be removed from bank balance sheets. This is the step that was not done. According to OECD, the failure to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets only serves to prolong the problem and make it more dangerous. These toxic assets can get worse through more defaults, thus making it necessary to inject more funds into the banking system. It's like holding a stock that keeps dropping and dropping and your margin calls become larger and larger.

So far the Fed and the U.S. Treasury have failed to clear toxic assets from bank balance sheets. This is an absolute must if our banking system is ever going to return to normal and bring back trust in the system. Just ask yourself, would you want to invest in a business when you don't even know what "bad assets" are being carried on the books? Who knows, maybe the value of the toxic assets are more than the bank is worth, in which case it should be shut down. At some point, someone will have to "bite the bullet" and clean up this mess. Congress, the Fed and the Treasury must put a stop to the practice of allowing banks to keep some of their transactions "off the books." That's what got us into this crisis in the first place. We need full transparency from here on or we will never be able to trust our banks again.

What are your thoughts on this?

Citigroup (NYSE: C) claims it has gotten a judge to block a potential merger between Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). The big New York bank claims it had a deal to snap up WB, and was done wrong.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "State Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos issued the order blocking the sale of Wachovia Corp., which Wells Fargo & Co. had agreed to purchase in a $14.8 billion deal."

The FDIC says it will step in to help resolve the issue. But, the question is "who is served" by the broader implications of the fight. Having three of the nation's largest financial firm in a dispute during the greatest banking crisis in decades would push Wachovia, already troubled, into greater peril while the fight goes on. It could continue for months when fast action may be the only way to keep Wachovia from failing.

The Treasury has already intervened by pushing banks to merge and nationalizing or taking large financial stakes in companies including AIG (NYSE: AIG). It needs to step into the Wachovia situation before the bank gets into such deep trouble that it is not worth buying.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 245wallst.com.