Faulking Truth Editor to Hedge Funds: I’ll be Your Bitch
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Mark Faulk's Blog
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mfaulk |
6/8/2006 11:25 AM |
This started out as a comment on the most recently posted Dave Patch blog at the Sanity Check about hedge fund Cornell Capital hiring SEC senior enforcement counsel Eric Hansen, called “If you want to beat the SEC in an enforcement case, just go out and buy one of them,” but Dave got me so pissed off that it turned into a full-blown tirade. So thanks Dave, and I apologize to everyone for my colorful language, but sometimes "This makes me quite angry" just doesn't cut it. The final paragraph from Patch’s article, which is a must-read for anyone who wants to ruin their mood for the entire day, pretty well sums things up:
Can it get any more blatant than this? Look at all the SEC departures over these past years and note how many are moving over to cushy jobs working at firms whose clients are these big Hedge Funds. SEC Director of Enforcement Steve Cutler, US Attorney Ken Breen, and now Hansen have all left their federal posts to take lucrative (cannot be turned down) offers from the Hedge Fund industry.
The system is broken. It cannot be fixed unless we dismantle it and start over. Now that the SEC has become just another pipeline to big money jobs in the very industry that they're supposed to be regulating, does anyone believe that they'll be tough on these people while they're with the SEC? It's no different than ex-congressman becoming high-paid lobbyists for the same firms that they oversee in their committee duties.
The SEC from now on will be seen as nothing more than a training ground for a lucrative job helping those that they regulate beat the very system that they’re pledged to serve. Toil for a few years as a congressman, or as a mid-level employee at the SEC, and then leap to a high-paid position with some seedy hedge fund who only goal is to bleed America dry and leave the body for the vultures. Toil for a few years as a congressman, or as a mid-level employee at the SEC, and wait for the behind-the-scenes offers to start rolling in.
In the Street.com article cited by Patch that details the investigation against Cornell Capital for manipulative short selling, they also mention three other hedge funds that are under investigation, HBK Investments, Gryphon Partners and Alexandra Investment Management. So if there any other SEC employees out there reading this who are looking for a promotion, you should give those companies a call. There’s a good chance you might be able to make a “deal” with one of them.
This is how The Faulking Truth put it in an http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/Investing101/1052.html from February of this year, quoting a lobbyist who assured stock market reform advocates that things were well in hand. I guess since we’re seeing the same thing happen in the SEC that has happened forever in every other branch of our federal government, I might as well save some time and just repost the ending to that article:
“Hang in there. Bush is aware of this issue and is concerned.”
Well, guess what, America? We are on the cusp of either changing our country for the better, or watching it go down the path of financial ruin. It’s 2006, an election year for many of our “representatives” in Congress. They have known about this travesty for years, and they have done nothing to fix it, choosing instead to line their own pockets and the pockets of the already ultra-wealthy.
As he often does, Patch summed it up best:
“Clearly this is not a republican issue or a democrat issue - it is an issue about the diversion of capital from middle class America to our nations wealthy and our nation's politicians. I believe we have friends in both camps but friends who are unwilling to step up to the plate and alienate those that have the wealth to keep them in office.”
There’s only one thing left to do: throw the scoundrels out. Republicans and Democrats alike, send them all packing, let them move on to the lucrative jobs that are undoubtedly waiting for them now that they’ve sold their souls for the almighty dollar. This topic, and the bigger issue of stock market reform in general, should be the hot-button topic of this year’s election. Every single Congressman who is running for re-election should have to answer for their failure to do the only job that they were elected to do, to represent ALL Americans, and not just those who can afford to buy influence. After years of ignoring the single most important issue facing our country today, do you really believe that Congress cares about America? Do you believe that our President is truly “concerned”?
You know, on second thought, maybe I’m on the wrong side of this fight. High six figures to sell my country down the river? What the hell, I’ll be your bitch. Where do I sign up? For that kind of money, I can always stock up on sedatives to take care of that pesky “how do you sleep at night” problem.
Call me, we’ll talk. |
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