Now that there is broad agreement that we are part of a global economy, perhaps it's time to start thinking about political representation on a global scale. If it does come to pass, I've already chosen my candidate. He's a showman, a scene stealer, a drama king Democrat from California called Congressman Henry Waxman.

Waxman is known for taking on chief executives and giving them a hard time – he was the one who made the bosses of the tobacco companies say under oath in 1994 that cigarettes were not addictive and didn't cause cancer. This week it was the turn of the former head honcho at Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld.

Congressman Waxman was tasked with publicly questioning Fuld on the reasons why the bank collapsed last month, but rather than let the detail of the meltdown get in the way, Waxman saw an opportunity to humiliate the rich suit and ran with it.

Richard Fuld began his day on Capitol Hill by almost winning our sympathy saying he felt horrible about the demise of Lehman Brothers and admitting that if he could turn back the clock, he would do many things differently.

So far, so good, for the man Wall Street nicknamed the Gorilla of Greed, but then Waxman pounced with a coup de grace and Fuld's humble demeanour looked hollower than a cheap chocolate egg on Easter Sunday. With the flick of a switch, Richard Fuld's salary was displayed on a massive screen and we learnt that this man had earned $480 million over the last eight years. It was like one of those moments in a movie when the person you had decided was the good guy, suddenly turned out to be the serial killer after all. Richard Fuld had become to Wall Street what Kaiser Soze was to the Usual Suspects.

The seemingly mild mannered executive had walked away from Lehmans having made stacks of cash – an average of $63 million a year plus stock options. He tried to argue that he did well when the company performed well and that he lies awake at night turning the events leading up to the closure of the bank over and over in his mind, but it was too late, the argument was already lost. Richard Fuld was guilty of being filthy rich.

Congressman Waxman pushed the by now squirming executive on how fair it was that he was so steeped in cash against the worthlessness of the shares now held by those who had invested in the bank in good faith. The humiliation continued as Waxman detailed a lifestyle that includes ownership of a waterfront property in Florida worth $14 million and an important and extremely valuable art collection.

The exchange made for fascinating viewing and a new anti-hero of the global economic crisis had been found. Here we had the personification of greed, a man who lined his nest with risky deals before fleeing to his opulent home(s) while the rest of us think about whether we need to worry about the banks having no money.

Of course, we didn't learn much about why Lehman Brothers went to the wall, but Congressman Henry Waxman had identified a fall guy and sent him home with his tail between his legs. The politician didn't solve any great mystery or reach a grand conclusion, but he did what all great politicians do, he put on one hell of a good show.