Susan Antilla

Suze Orman, the ubiquitous guru of personal finance, released a new book on Jan. 10, and her fans couldn’t part with their $16 a copy fast enough. In less than two weeks, “The Money Class” rose to fourth place among paperback advice books on the New York Times best-seller list.

On the surface, the year 2011 was one of ramped-up securities regulation and scary times for financial scammers, with enforcement cases soaring at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and coverage galore about the humbling of inside traders and municipal-bond riggers.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may not look like a warm-and-fuzzy regulator to you, but to discerning investment advisers, it is as loveable as a government agency can be.

Is it possible that, even after the uncountable lessons of the past three years, investors have learned nothing? A popular financial planner and blogger made a very public disclosure of his personal economic meltdown last month, telling the story of how he got in over his head with a Las Vegas house that had two mortgages, no equity, and a date with destiny for a short-sale with Wells Fargo & Co.

I’m starting to get worried that Wall Street and its supporters are losing their touch.

Anita Hill sits at a tiny conference table in her office at Brandeis University, just outside Boston, as I quiz her on the obvious themes. Her testimony during hearings to confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court? Admittedly a “terrible” experience, “but I want people to understand that I survived it.” Attacks on her character? A good thing for women in the workplace because now “they know what to expect” should they ever go public about harassment.

In a dusty, Wichita, Kansas, re- creation of a frontier town last week, while state securities regulators slapped at mosquitoes and swapped stories about cagey financial crooks over cocktails, a spurs-and-boots-clad sheriff drew his weapon and staged a faux gunfight in the town square.

If you’re like most consumers of business and financial news, you gobble up those useless lists of “Best Leaders” and “Most Admired Companies,” trusting that people in my line of work have the right formula to measure what’s “best.”

A thriving, sex-and-gossip newspaper has been shuttered, big shots in media, politics and law enforcement have resigned, and arrests have been made. It has resulted in a lot of headlines, but considering how old the real news is, I wonder what all the fuss is about.

For a moment, I wondered if my phone had gone dead.