For a man known for strong opinions and “leadership” skills, Jon Corzine fell miserably short on both counts last week during 3 hours of subpoenaed testimony before the House Agricultural Committee.

Corzine is alleged to have made large bets with customer money on the sovereign debts of Italy, Spain, etc. on behalf of his firm MF Global. When losses on these bets became unsustainable the company filed for bankruptcy. Oddly, and against what is believed to be the law, customer money is missing – to the tune of $1.2 billion – and may not be fully recovered. Investors want to know if their money is at risk.

This is the real crux of the matter: Why are account holders – the customers of MF Global – looking at significant losses?

Even as Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers imploded, customer assets were safe. Equity and some bond holders got smoked, but customer assets were safe. What gives Mr. Corzine?!?

“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” Corzine said in a prepared statement.

Seriously? You ran Goldman Sachs from 1994 through 1999, roughly a $20 to 30 billion company at the time. Did you know where the money was then? How about when you were governor of New Jersey, a state with $500 billion GDP. Any guesses on where funds were going?

Yet for your $600 million dollar (as of mid October) wanna-be Goldman Sachs firm, you have no clue!