A Brooklyn jury acquitted two former Bear Stearns executives Tuesday. The two men had been charged with lying to investors. To give us the low-down on all of this is a man accustomed to suing Wall Street titans, former New York attorney general (and former governor) Eliot Spitzer.

All week we are reviewing the year that was — the year that marked the beginning of the financial meltdown and the recession that we continue to live through. Today we’re taking stock of how the nation’s banks are managing, one year after the government spent billions of taxpayers' dollars to bail them out. For a look at what regulations need to be in place to avoid future financial disasters, we talk with Eliot Spitzer. He was New York's attorney general before being elected governor; he first made a name for himself for keeping an eagle eye on the banking industry. We are also joined by Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University and author of the new book, Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World. (click through for the interview transcript.)

President Obama has proposed sweeping changes to the regulation of the country's financial system. But do these changes actually address the root causes of our financial crisis? For one view, we turn to Eliot Spitzer, former Attorney General and Governor of New York. When he was Attorney General he made a name for himself suing companies like AIG for deception, fraud and boosting the company’s stock price. He also discusses his personal feelings at having to watch the unfolding crisis as a bystander and not as political leader.