Just a reminder to not let your guard down, to keep paying attention. WE did, we let the ball drop; my generation did that. My fathers generation were the recepients of the last Depression and it scared them really bad, so much so that many still won't accept any credit for anything. They pay cash for their cars and for their homes for their groceries and at the drug store. They didn't want to repeat the 1920's and 30's. They were the generation that applied the safeguards and the checks and balances to make sure it would never happen again. They were right to keep paying cash but they were wrong to think that it wouldn't happen again, safeguards be damned. It was my generation that forget to check on the safeguards to see if they were working, to make sure that Congress and the executive branch were doing their job. Well they weren't; plain and simple and we were not smart enough to do something about it. This didn't happen yesterday but a long time ago and if the truth be know it probably started happening in1935, the year after The Security and Exchange Commission was started. You see, these people , the Wall Street Bunch and the Congress, are a lot smarter than we give them credit for and they have the money to do the things they do. They have the money to buy the very best advisers in the world to show them how to do it. They have the money to make the Congressmen look the other way or pass the bills that favor them.They have the money to hire the right CEO's and CFO's to hoodwink all of their shareholders and investors into thinking that there is no risk, everything is on the up and up and everyone is going to make more money and when it doesn't they bail out with their Golden Parachutes worth millions and hundreds of millions and the investors are left with worthless stock. The investors contact the Security and exchange commission and they turn their heads, or put it under advisement or tell the investors that they can't act until congress tells them to act. The Congressman has just came from a charity Golf Tournament where that CEO was responsible for raising $250 million for the congressman's favorite charity so he does nothing. The shareholders are caught with worthless stock hoping that the government comes up with $700 Billion and bales them out.
The following is from the SEC's website All of the underlining is mine. Who are they? What do they do? The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.
As more and more first-time investors turn to the markets to help secure their futures, pay for homes, and send children to college, our investor protection mission is more compelling than ever.
As our nation's securities exchanges mature into global for-profit competitors, there is even greater need for sound market regulation.
And the common interest of all Americans in a growing economy that produces jobs, improves our standard of living, and protects the value of our savings means that all of the SEC's actions must be taken with an eye toward promoting the capital formation that is necessary to sustain economic growth. Though it is the primary overseer and regulator of the U.S. securities markets, the SEC works closely with many other institutions, including Congress, other federal departments and agencies, the self-regulatory organizations (e.g. the stock exchanges), state securities regulators, and various private sector organizations. In particular, the Chairman of the SEC, together with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, serves as a member of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. When the stock market crashed in October 1929, public confidence in the markets plummeted. Investors large and small, as well as the banks who had loaned to them, lost great sums of money in the ensuing Great Depression[me again, does the underlining sound a bit familiar?]. There was a consensus that for the economy to recover, the public's faith in the capital markets needed to be restored. Congress held hearings to identify the problems and search for solutions.
As more and more first-time investors turn to the markets to help secure their futures, pay for homes, and send children to college, our investor protection mission is more compelling than ever.
As our nation's securities exchanges mature into global for-profit competitors, there is even greater need for sound market regulation.
And the common interest of all Americans in a growing economy that produces jobs, improves our standard of living, and protects the value of our savings means that all of the SEC's actions must be taken with an eye toward promoting the capital formation that is necessary to sustain economic growth. Though it is the primary overseer and regulator of the U.S. securities markets, the SEC works closely with many other institutions, including Congress, other federal departments and agencies, the self-regulatory organizations (e.g. the stock exchanges), state securities regulators, and various private sector organizations. In particular, the Chairman of the SEC, together with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, serves as a member of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. When the stock market crashed in October 1929, public confidence in the markets plummeted. Investors large and small, as well as the banks who had loaned to them, lost great sums of money in the ensuing Great Depression[me again, does the underlining sound a bit familiar?]. There was a consensus that for the economy to recover, the public's faith in the capital markets needed to be restored. Congress held hearings to identify the problems and search for solutions.
Where do you suppose these guys were when all of this was happening? Nice mission statement but I think someone forgot it. Wonder what kind of mission statement Congress has? Sorry but I smell at least one more political posting coming.
