I have watched C-SPAN's coverage of congressional testimony by Harry Markopolus. Harry, for years, was blowing the whistle on the $50 billion Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.
Regrettably, the responsible(?) regulatory agency to whom he was appealing, the Securities and Exchange Commission, ignored his thoroughly documented submissions and pleadings. The red flags that he was flying were many, and would be easily recognized by even a casual observer -- that is, a causal observer who was interested and awake.
During questioning, Harry was asked his opinion of a regulatory entity that is supposed to oversee and police the activities of a segment of the financial services industry: broker/dealers. This one is called the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a nongovernmental organization run by the broker/dealers (think: fox watching the hen house), empowered by Congress to do so. Its powers include arbitrating disputes between customers and their broker/dealer members, since aggrieved customers are not usually permitted access to the courts.
Supposedly, Congress oversees FINRA activities. Now, Harry was asked to compare the SEC and FINRA. His answer was short and pithy: The SEC is incompetent; FINRA is corrupt. This was particularly interesting to me since I have been the victim of FINRA misbehavior. I was aware that President Obama had appointed one Mary Shaprio to be the new head of the SEC, replacing the clueless Christopher Cox. I also knew that Mary Shapiro's previous job was head of FINRA, where she was paid approximately $3 million per year, plus another $5 million to $25 million reward for her FINRA exit.
So we have here the chief of a corrupt regulatory body, being appointed to clean house at an incompetent regulatory body. She was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. It seems that sleeping is a popular activity in Washington, D.C. -- both at the SEC and in Congress.
Robert Gilbert, Aiken, S.C.
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This is a problem not only with the SEC, with any government agency without oversight. The recent diabolical with the GA peanut factory shows if business is allowed to operate without checks and balances. Republicans especially need to remember why TR (with the help of Upton Sinclair) pushed the Mudraker laws, and the good intentions for why they were established. The GOP forgot it's roots, and went beyond it to anarcho-capitalist "free trade", to the point of selling our country from right under our feet. We need oversight in finances and business, not more bailouts to REWARD thieves. >:( Accountability, as it's a matter of PUBLIC TRUST!
Sandy, we DO need oversight, but not restrictive and social engineering regulation. That's the balance point. While some GOP members want unrestricted "survival of the fittest" business practices, some Dem Marxists (our current pres) wants government regulation of every dollar exchanged. The trick is the balance point. Working toward that ever changing point is what congress does, and sometimes it moves away from the point. It's up to the INFORMED voter to influence congress. Our current government school system is doing all it can to prevent there being any informed voters. Personal responsibility produces public trust.
Mr Gilbert's observation need to be expanded to include every governmental agency where minorities are absent. Whites will not remain objective in settings where everyone looks alike. ("they" jump up & down about such comments, but the truth speaks volumes) The SEC's abject failure is duplicated throughout our government and their mission is to prevent discovery. My obseravtion of the hearing verified my statement regarding minorities because NONE was there. Now think, what is the difference than having Affirmative Actions hires and this all-white bunch at the SEC? Probably something would have been done "we" know right from wrong. The argument against AA is, "we want to get the best & brightest" ("they" actually hate minorities collectively in high-paying jobs) well, this is what U get. A bunch of defrauded americans (probably all-white) millions lost, economy in shabbles, and a gov't agency requiring a severe probe, while African-Americans sit by thinking, "is this the best they've got?"
justus4, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AFRICAN-AMERICAN!!!!! Either you're American or you are not!! Maybe that's a small part of your problem.
There you go folks, according to Sandy and Justus, it's all the fault of those evil Republicans, especially white Republicans. Just kill them all off, and the world will be well. Thanks, guys...what would we do without you!
Well, when a white man becomes a Republican Senator, it does tend to turn him gay. So there's that.
fda, sec, social security, education, welfare, border protection,
fema,monetary policy, war on drugs, corp of engineers, trade, who needs them. the empire is in a death spiral. the union will dissolve in 20 years......... CHANGE hahahahhahahhhahhahhahhahhaaaa
Talk is cheap. Regulation is in the eyes of the beholder. Power and temptation is too much for most folks to handle. And justus is an idiot. Having said all of that, I believe the SEC is by far the strongest conference in NCAA football. Noone else is even close.
"it's all the fault of those evil Republicans" ------ Mostly Neo-Cons (who are these Reagan Democrats, who spent money they never had to begin with). Nope I'm not a Republican, as Neo-Cons polluted the party and turned it into a Democrat stronghold, complete with social agendas and ideas that money grows on trees. Damn proud Traditional conservative, who NEVER forgot the roots of conservatism. Never will sell out this country. Never forgot the Founder's vision. You stupid Neo-Cons are only interested in stealing from others; giving money you don't own; make the USA a Gulag; all under some false pretense of being "secure". Why don't you just leave this country and goto some Commie enclave (Putin is more suited to be your president anyway -- you guys love being lemmings to some party anyway). >:(
"the empire is in a death spiral." ------ Neo-con trash speech. The USA is a Republic, not a the USSR, and never was the intention of the Founders to make the USA a EMPIRE. >:( >:( ?:(
WALLERSTEIN, how about Barney Frank? Isn't he a Democrat?
a republic? hahahahhaa the founding fathers never wanted a standing army , income taxes, foreign intervention, a strong federal govt, a central bank, and on and on. whats your stupid point? we have bases all over the world. 737 foriegn bases. we interfere with everything in the world. we are bankrupt. the empire is in convulsions. but to me it is a great thing. now we can get back to being a republic. slay the beast.....................
87% of all government employees are black. 92% of all statistics are made up.
justus can make any issue about race. He is amazing.
I wish they would abolish the names of the parties- and lets just have Americans run. I don't know how the country can "come together" when we are still singling out which is the worst party. People should be judged as themselves and so should the parties. Everyone is pointing at each other and all we, as Americans are getting is "the finger".
gottabquiet, birds of a feather.... soon, there'd be new parties just like the old parties, just with different names.
I am sorry in advance, gotta. You do sound very naive.