The Securities and Exchange Commission missed virtually every major scandal that rocked the business world, says securities industry attorney Bill Singer, who wants the SEC removed, not reformed,

"The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which has outlived its usefulness and should be demolished to make way for much-needed reform and consumer protection," Singer writes in Forbes magazine.

Not unexpectedly, Singer says, apologists have once again risen to the defense of the SEC. "We hear it would be a mistake to touch a single gray hair on the head of the venerable 75-year-old institution," Singer says. "Are they serious?"

Bureaucratic stupidity frustrated whistleblower Harry Markopolos, Singer points out, and now, two SEC enforcement attorneys face possible insider-trading charges.

"How could those regulators have so much spare time on their hands that they could trade stocks while our economy was burning down?" Singer asks.

"Where were their supervisors? Where were the internal policies to prevent such trading? It's as if everyone at the SEC simply went on vacation."

"Too bad no one hung a "Gone Fishin'" sign on the door to warn us."

As reports emerge that the Obama administration is discussing the creation of new federal commission to oversee consumer financial products, SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro argues that her agency has the right experience to continue regulating investor products such as mutual funds, The Washington Post reports.

"It's not a discrete thing to get moved away without damaging the fabric of the entire investment protection regime that is built up over many years here," Schapiro said.