The Wall Street Journal gave “credit ratings” to the personalities in this week’s farcical populist flogging of Goldman Sachs. Our own junior senator received a junk bond rating:

Ba2 Sen. Claire McCaskill. The Democrat’s shrill questioning and insults (she called the Goldman traders “lemmings” and “gamblers”) took away from what could have been a politically savvy point: How could she explain the rationale for Goldman’s profitable short trades to her constituents back home in Missouri who lost their jobs amid the financial crisis.

“Shrill” is the right word to describe Claire McCaskill, but I disagree with the premise of the question posed. The people of Missourah are not, as perhaps both Claire and the Journal believe, fucking retards.

Long positions are not noble and short positions are not evil. If Americans weren’t perpetually talked down to by politicians and newspeople who don’t bother to understand capital markets themselves, then that might be more clear to everybody. The whole Wall Street vs. Main Street narrative is ready-made for the MSNBC chyron, but it is a pat cop-out.

It is interesting that the Journal focused on Missourah, because our own UMB Bank and Commerce Bank were named #2 and #3, respectively, on the Forbes list of ”America’s Best Banks.” Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, even made a personal visit to Kansas City to recognize the banks.

Commerce and UMB attained the distinction by making sound business decisions, lending prudently– and, consequently, sitting out the subprime meltdown that ravaged much of the financial sector.

Perhaps the Senate has more to learn from Commerce, UMB and the great companies of Missourah than we do from them (or the Wall Street Journal).