Will the widely anticipated Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report on the subprime crisis on Wall Street land with an inconsequential thud?

On one hand, the panel seems to have uncovered some new nuggets in its exhaustive look at what was going on at Wall Street firms as they developed and sold CDOs. In particular, it is expected, according to media reports, to detail a dispute between Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which was a counterparty on one CDO deal that soured and led to some large margin calls by its archrival. This might make Goldman Sachs look bad, especially as it was serving as its own liquidation agent while it had a huge stake in the deal. It did realize this, and sought to find third parties to take over liquidation at one point.

But all in all, this will strike many as old news. Goldman Sachs has moved on, and embraced a whole set of institutional changes as a result of the crisis. It has settled the ABACUS CDO SEC charges already. And it has endured many hearings on the issue.

To be sure, Goldman Sachs will not be the only banks discussed; Deutsche Bank is likely to be criticized as well. But the industry seems to have moved on, for better or worse. We will not see another round of reform efforts. We can only hope that the changes already made will be enough to prevent another such bubble. Wall Street is no doubt at working creating the next big thing.

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