The moneychangers are ecstatic, but future historians will also be happy, because this is more grist for the mill. If you want to investigate the causes of the Crash of '08, you could start with an examination of the wreckage caused by GMAC and the vultures who fed off it.

GMAC is the locus of a monumental melding of the two main meltdown dramas: the subprime-mortgage mess and the collapse of the U.S. auto industry. And throw in the Bernie Madoff scandal, too, because GMAC's chairman used to be Ezra Merkin, who faces fraud charges in that scam. Merkin only became GMAC's chairman after corporate raiders snatched it away from GM and put him in power.

There was a time not so long ago when GMAC was merely the fleet-financing arm for GM dealers, enabling them to keep their lots well-stocked with gas-guzzlers. As a really good Wall Street Journal story this morning on the disgraceful new bailout notes:

GMAC couldn't even qualify for a bailout if the Federal Reserve hadn't allowed it late last year to suddenly become a "bank," enabling it to seek TARP funds. Now GMAC is calling itself Ally Bank. An "ally" of what remains the question. A bank for the vultures is one answer that quickly comes to mind.