It’s sort of received wisdom that the Securities and Exchange Commission is irredeemably captured by the financial industry and totally incapable of conducting its daily affairs. But what you didn’t know was how comically incompetent it was. Moe Tkacik — with an assist from a GAO report — explains.

Ezra Klein is a former Prospect writer and current editor-in-chief at Vox. His work has appeared in the LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Slate, and The Columbia Journalism Review. He’s been a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and more.