Enter the "Bezzle"
Readers of this blog know I am a great admirer of the late John Kenneth Galbraith, the author of the seminal history of the Depression, The Great Crash
What is now clear is that the current SEC is not up to the job of policing Wall Street.
Even before this scandal the SEC was on the back foot, having stood by as the big Wall Street investment banks it was charged with policing ran amok. In its defence, the commission argued that its primary role was investor protection, not prudential regulation. Now it has been shown wanting in its core competence—though, with 11,000 fund managers to oversee, not to mention the boom in mortgage-related cases, some may think it inevitable. Congress is next year expected to revamp America’s dysfunctional system of financial regulation. One option, already proposed by Hank Paulson, the outgoing treasury secretary, is to fold the SEC’s responsibilities into a new set of agencies.
The SEC was a victim of “regulatory capture”, just like the FCC, FTC and the EPA. As I have said before, this is a reform moment, and we must seize the day to take back these agencies from the corporations.
There have been plenty of people who tried to warn Wall Street and investors about the financial apocalypse that is upon us. People blinded by $$ have done the best to keep them quiet or cut them off at the knees.
http://www.wowowow.com/print/152160
http://zakstar.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/vod-peter-schiff-predicted-our-economic-boondoggle-he-says-more-to-come/
There’s no shortage of greed, like the Merrill Lynch CEO that wanted his $10M bonus after tanking his company. Greed finds a way to skirt regulations. It wouldn’t matter how stringent they are.
Regulation doesn’t matter when the prevailing economic model is s/he who has the most cash wins. . . there’s no interest in long term financial health, community involvement, or environmental impact.
There have been plenty of people who tried to warn Wall Street and investors about the financial apocalypse that is upon us. People blinded by $$ have done the best to keep them quiet or cut them off at the knees.
http://www.wowowow.com/print/152160
http://zakstar.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/vod-peter-schiff-predicted-our-economic-boondoggle-he-says-more-to-come/
There’s no shortage of greed, like the Merrill Lynch CEO that wanted his $10M bonus after tanking his company. Greed finds a way to skirt regulations. It wouldn’t matter how stringent they are.
Regulation doesn’t matter when the prevailing economic model is s/he who has the most cash wins. . . there’s no interest in long term financial health, community involvement, or environmental impact.
Anybody take the time to read the 1980 “Bible” of the Reagan presidency, “Mandate For Leadership” put together by The Heritage Foundation? Just about every ill-omened “government initiative” (including I guess you might call it “regulatory capture,” like shoot it with a tranquilzer dart and lock it up in a zoo) is foretold there. That book magically appeared in multiple copies in the offices and libraries of all the federal regulatory agencies shortly after the Reagan inauguration. These folks told us what they were going to do to the rest of us, did it, and then bragged about it.
And the beat goes on: There’s a 2000 and several other versions just chock full of the wit and wisdom of the sneaks that populate the Red end of the spectrum.
http://www.heritage.org/research/features/mandate/2005/topic.cfm?topic=9
As to EPA, where I worked in enforcement in 1980, the stuff that changed overnight on Jan. 21, 1981, was just really cool. No more enforcement actions, judicial or administrative, against business until further notice. Businesses were now the agency’s “customers,” entitled to great customer service. No regulations to be proposed, let alone adopted, unless they were supported by “good science,” to be produced only by the politically correct scientists in a Green Book. Businesses writing regulations to benefit themselves, and getting to rewrite the science generated by the Carter hangovers. Etc. Anyone remember Rita Lavelle and Anne Gorsuch and John Hernandez?
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/epa/media/elr1990.pdf
Average folks went on working and spending and thinking their interests were being protected. Uh-huh.
Anybody take the time to read the 1980 “Bible” of the Reagan presidency, “Mandate For Leadership” put together by The Heritage Foundation? Just about every ill-omened “government initiative” (including I guess you might call it “regulatory capture,” like shoot it with a tranquilzer dart and lock it up in a zoo) is foretold there. That book magically appeared in multiple copies in the offices and libraries of all the federal regulatory agencies shortly after the Reagan inauguration. These folks told us what they were going to do to the rest of us, did it, and then bragged about it.
And the beat goes on: There’s a 2000 and several other versions just chock full of the wit and wisdom of the sneaks that populate the Red end of the spectrum.
http://www.heritage.org/research/features/mandate/2005/topic.cfm?topic=9
As to EPA, where I worked in enforcement in 1980, the stuff that changed overnight on Jan. 21, 1981, was just really cool. No more enforcement actions, judicial or administrative, against business until further notice. Businesses were now the agency’s “customers,” entitled to great customer service. No regulations to be proposed, let alone adopted, unless they were supported by “good science,” to be produced only by the politically correct scientists in a Green Book. Businesses writing regulations to benefit themselves, and getting to rewrite the science generated by the Carter hangovers. Etc. Anyone remember Rita Lavelle and Anne Gorsuch and John Hernandez?
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/epa/media/elr1990.pdf
Average folks went on working and spending and thinking their interests were being protected. Uh-huh.
Bernie Madoff: Off with his head.
Bernie Madoff: Off with his head.