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HomeWhat Really Happened at Stanford Financial?
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 30th, 2010 11:05 AM |
Is this game of life a total mystery? In many respects, life is a mystery. While there are many aspects of life we may never fully understand, there are those elements for which we can gain greater understanding through research, study, transparency and disclosure.
Along these same lines, to what degree is the world of financial frauds a mystery? How much of what transpired to lead us into our current economic crisis will we never truly learn? While our financial regulators and legal representatives may work toward providing transparency and disclosure, will the American public ever learn the full extent of the two largest financial frauds of the last few years–those being the Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford travesties.
I ask this critically important question in light of the Freedom of Information Act exemption provided to the SEC in the recently enacted Financial Regulatory Reform package. Will that exemption inhibit transparency and disclosure? Should the American public blindly accept and trust the SEC at each and every turn? How might we ever know? (more…)
What Will We Learn from FINRA’s Annual Meeting on 8-12-10?
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 11th, 2010 12:20 PM |
Wall Street’s self-regulatory organization, FINRA, holds its annual meeting tomorrow inWashington D.C.. What will we learn? Will FINRA’s member firms vote for a number of non-binding proposals which would shine real light on the inner workings of this organization? America deserves to learn so much more than has ever been revealed about FINRA.
I have shared with many people that I believe the underlying tone of our markets would improve if FINRA were compelled to open its books and records. Why do I so strongly believe that? True transparency inherently breeds investor confidence. I made this very point to Joe Giannone of Reuters just the other day. Regular readers of Sense on Cents are fully aware of my feelings. Joe highlights the topics surrounding FINRA for a wider audience as he writes, FINRA Faces Calls to Lift Veil on Finances, Pay:
Wall Street regulator FINRA, which demands disclosure and openness from brokers, is under pressure to lift the veil on its own affairs.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a private corporation that regulates the nation’s 4,700 brokerages, will learns at its annual meeting on Thursday how many support a dissident’s call for more transparency. (more…)
Is Washington Enacting Financial Regulatory Reform or Merely ‘Studying’ It?
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 8th, 2010 1:27 PM |
How often have you experienced a situation in which somebody tries to project an air of leadership while truly dodging an issue? In the course of my career, I have witnessed this reality all too often. When and why does this occur? Typically, managers who are weak and overly political play this card. Washington plays this game all the time. The Obama administration has made an art of forming committees to study issues.
Our ’so called’ leaders would like to project themselves as real leaders doing the people’s business, meanwhile they are beholden to other constituencies. God forbid they actually take a stand and show their true mettle. So we witness our politicians agreeing to ’study’ issues, which is more often the equivalent of putting issues on the back burner or letting them die on the vine. Who wins? Lobbyists. Who loses? Average Americans. Who tries to save face? Our political cowards. (more…)
Consumer Protection or Big Brother is Watching
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 26th, 2010 11:30 AM |
I am all for financial regulatory reform, but as I wrote the other day I do not trust Washington. I witness further reason not to trust the wizards in Washington after reviewing a gem buried in the Senate’s version of financial regulatory reform.
You likely will not see this in the mainstream media, but thanks to CNS News for reporting Senate Democrats Pass Bill Allowing Government to Collect Addresses, ATM Records of Bank Customers:
Senate Democrats united to pass a financial regulatory bill that allows the government to collect data on any person operating in financial markets at any level, including the collection of personal transaction records from local banks that list customers’ addresses and ATM receipts. (more…)
Auction-Rate Securities: The Fraud Continues
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 3rd, 2010 10:57 AM |
To: Wall Street, Washington, and State Capitols
From: Sense on Cents
Re: Auction-Rate Securities Fraud and Financial Regulatory Reform
To all those enmeshed on both sides of the political-financial incest and currently debating and lobbying on the merits of proposed financial regulatory reform, you are proving yourselves to be nothing more than massive frauds yourselves by not fully addressing and exposing the single greatest financial fraud perpetrated on American investors, that is the world of auction-rate securities.
To President Obama, members of Congress, financial regulators, and Wall Street executives, your unwillingness and inability to openly and honestly address the perpetuation of the fraud surrounding ARS ($150 billion ARS remain outstanding) paints you as nothing more than aiding and abetting the fraud itself. Who amongst you is even willing to fully address this topic? (more…)
Great American Ed Morrow Lashes Out at Mary Schapiro
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 20th, 2010 1:10 PM |
Edwin P. Morrow, Chairman & CEO of IARFC
I am heartened when great Americans across our country are willing to stand up and lash out at those involved in the Wall Street-Washington incest. I crossed paths with just such an American this morning in Ed Morrow, the chairman and CEO of the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants, a non-profit educational society for the financial planning industry.
Ed wrote to his representaitve John Boehner (R-OH) on financial regulatory topics which he feels are vitally important to his members. I thank Ed for his courage to speak his mind and his willingness to let me run his letter here at Sense on Cents. Thank you to our great American Ed Morrow for writing the following: (more…)
Robert Reich, “The Fed in Hot Water”
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 1st, 2010 5:14 PM |
Former Clinton Secretary of Labor Robert Reich had some very strong words today for the Federal Reserve. In his commentary which I find at Wall Street Pit, Reich questions the constitutionality of the Fed’s actions in 2008. None of this comes as a surprise, but it should cause America to wake up to the fact that the Wall Street-Washington incestuous relationship has run roughshod over America before and now throughout our economic crisis.
Who in Washington is willing to blow the whistle on this incest? Reich writes, The Fed in Hot Water:
The Fed has finally came clean. It now admits it bailed out Bear Stearns – taking on tens of billions of dollars of the bank’s bad loans – in order to smooth Bear Stearns’ takeover by JPMorgan Chase (JPM). (more…)
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL): “Frankly, the Banks Own Congress” and You’re Getting Screwed Again
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 24th, 2010 12:22 PM |
I wrote extensively in 2009 as to How Wall Street Bought Washington. Well, it would appear that the purchase and sales agreement between these two entities remains in place.
A recent press release highlights developments on Senator Chris Dodd’s proposed Financial Regulatory Reform along with a recent assessment by Washington insider and Illinois Senator Richard Durbin.
DEMOCRATIC FINANCIAL REFORM BILL EXITED SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE WITHOUT RESTORING KEY INVESTOR LEGAL RIGHT TO HOLD KNOWING AIDERS AND ABETTORS OF FRAUD ACCOUNTABLE (more…)
