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Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption?

Location: Blogs Bob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog    
Posted by:   bobo 6/1/2006 4:39 AM

Well now, maybe we can all get a better feel for why it is that nobody on the Beltway wants to rein in Wall Street larceny by viewing the colossal amounts of money that it donated to both political parties over the last decade or so.

You can view that information here.

Looking at this, is it any surprise that the powers that be are willing to play three monkeys to the systematic raping of the nation, by a thin slice of the Eastern seaboard?

For those born yesterday, money talks, and big money speaks with a resonance that eclipses reason or honor.

What a shocker that our elected officials, and our regulators (funded by committees run by those elected officials) choose to turn a blind eye to overt corruption and criminality on the street.

Sure, there are token fines and wrist slaps, and when the states catch them really stealing everyone blind, some fines with real teeth, but all in all, crime has never paid better - when offset against the total profits Wall Street generates, these fines are beer money. A trifle.

----------------

Speaking of which, we just got a new Secretary of the Treasury - the former head of Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson.

What can we expect from this august person? Well, let's review the history of GS under Paulson for clues as to his integrity and honesty - here are some snippets from the news, dated in advancing order. They include instances of IPO violations in July 2004, Jan. 2005, March 2005, April 2005 and again in June 2005; Conflicted research in Dec. 2002 and April 2003, and trading misconduct: April 2003 & Sept. 2003. It is clear from the pattern and the fines that GS viewed breaking the rules as a cost of doing business - welcome to the Beltway, Henry Paulson!!!

 

December 3, 2002

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MWD), the Salomon Smith Barney unit of Citigroup, the Deutsche Bank Securities unit of Deutsche Bank and the U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray unit of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB ) each agreed to pay $1.65 million in fines for allegedly violating e-mail record-keeping requirements. The fines were assessed to each company by the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD. In accepting the penalties, the broker-dealers neither admit nor deny the allegations.


December 20, 2002

Late last night regulators and investment banks agreed to a series of fines and sanctions in response to Wall Street's mistreatment of individual investors through bastardized, conflicted research.

The total tab in fines is $1 billion. Citigroup (NYSE: C), parent of Salomon Smith Barney, took the largest hit, at $325 million, but a baker's dozen of other Wall Street firms got fines, including Credit Suisse First Boston (NYSE: CSR) at $150 million, and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MWD) at $50 million apiece. On top of these fines the companies will be required to fund a trust as seed capital for an independent stock-analysis entity.


April 4, 2003

Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, a unit of Goldman Sachs, and four employees agreed to be censured and fined $435,000 for alleged trading misconduct on the floor of the exchange between 1999 and 2002. Although Spear's Amex floor operations were sold off in late 2002, it remains the largest NYSE specialist outfit.


April 28, 2003

Goldman Sachs was found to have “issued research reports that were not based on principles of fair dealing and good faith .. contained exaggerated or unwarranted claims.. and/or contained opinions for which there were no reasonable bases.” The firm was fined $110 million dollars, for a total of $119.3
million dollars in fines in six months.

September 4, 2003

In a settlement with the SEC, Goldman Sachs & Co., a unit of Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS ), agreed to pay $4.3 million in restitution and a $5 million penalty related to improper trading in U.S. Treasury securities and futures. Without admitting or denying the findings, Goldman consented to the SEC's order. The restitution and penalty relate to improper trading in 30-year bonds on Oct. 31, 2001, that the SEC alleges was caused by embargoed information received by then senior economist John Youngdahl. The SEC has filed a civil complaint against Youngdahl and Peter Davis, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant, who allegedly supplied Youngdahl with a tip that the U.S. Treasury was about to announce the suspension of the 30-year bond. Youngdahl has also been charged with seven counts of criminal activity by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Davis, also charged by the U.S. attorney, has already pleaded guilty. A lawyer for Youngdahl says that his client intends to fight the charges. (See "Goldman Scuffs Its Shoes.")


March 15, 2004

Goldman Sachs& Cowas (“Goldman”)censured and fined $15,000 for the following conduct. On 21 occasions during the fourth quarter 2002, and on 23 occasions during the first and second quarter of 2003, Goldman failed to expose customer orders it represented as agent for 30 seconds prior to entering offsetting and interacting firm proprietary orders. (ISE Rule 717(d))  Goldman failed to maintain satisfactory written procedures to assure compliance with proper facilitation of customer orders. (ISE Rule 401) The fine was composed of $10,000 for violations of 717(d) and $5,000 for the written supervisory procedures violation.


July 1, 2004

Goldman Sachs Group agreed to pay $2 million to settle an administrative proceeding with the SEC. According to the SEC, sales traders at Goldman violated the waiting period for marketing an IPO before a registration became effective. Additionally, the SEC alleged that a Goldman executive spoke to the media about an IPO by PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) before an initial registration was filed. In the settlement, Goldman neither admitted nor denied the findings.

February 17, 2005

Following several months of negotiations, the parent companies of the five largest specialists at the New York Stock Exchange revealed nearly $240 million in total fines and restitution related to alleged NYSE rule violations. In the agreements in principle, still being finalized by the SEC and NYSE, the companies claim they will neither admit nor deny findings that allege the specialists failed to maintain a fair or orderly market. The Spear, Leeds & Kellogg unit of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) will pay a total of $45.5 million.


January 26, 2005

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have agreed to pay a combined $80m (£43m) to settle allegations that they manipulated markets to ensure big first day gains in flotations during the stock market boom.
The Wall Street banks were accused of guaranteeing clients bigger allocations in initial public offerings if they agreed to buy more of the shares when they started trading. The scheme is known on Wall Street as "laddering".


March 22, 2005

The NASD fined a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. unit $1 million for hiding initial public offering allocations after being pressured by clients demanding anonymity. The regulator said Spear, Leeds & Kellogg LP, which in January was renamed Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing LP, used its system to circumvent the Depository Trust Corp.'s IPO Tracking System, which lets underwriters monitor the quick trading, or "flipping," of new issues. DTC provides clearance and settlement services to the securities industry. The NASD fined a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. unit $1 million for hiding initial public offering allocations after being pressured by clients demanding anonymity. The regulator said Spear, Leeds & Kellogg LP, which in January was renamed Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing LP, used its system to circumvent the Depository Trust Corp.'s IPO Tracking System, which lets underwriters monitor the quick trading, or "flipping," of new issues. DTC provides clearance and settlement services to the securities industry.


April 1, 2005

In Indonesia, Goldman has had an ongoing problem largely ignored by the U.S. media. According to the Hong Kong Standard, on 3-4: “Goldman Sachs Group colluded with Indonesia's state oil company, Pertamina, to ensure Frontline buys two supertankers for as much as US$56 million (HK$436.8 million) below the market price in July 2004, the country's anti-monopoly agency said.” Goldman was fined $15.76 million by Indonesia, a levy that came in close proximity to another fine, in which Goldman was fined $1 million by the NASD in a case that involved withholding IPO information from the market.


June 9, 2005

NASD today announced that it has ordered three firms - Morgan Stanley & Co, J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., and Goldman, Sachs & Co. - to pay more than $2.9 million following sales of restricted securities in violation of lock-up agreements as required by Each of the firms, or entities or individuals affiliated with the firms, acquired the securities from issuers in private placements prior to each issuer's IPO. Each of the firms subsequently served as an underwriter of the issuer's IPO. Under NASD rules, certain of the private placement securities were deemed underwriting compensation and were restricted from sale for a period of one year from the date of the IPO. In addition, NASD rules provided that if a member firm agreed to restrict the sale of securities for an additional period of time - one or two years - additional discounts would be provided to the value assigned to the shares for purposes of determining underwriting compensation.NASD rules.


August, 2005

The NASD censured and fined 20 firms a total of $1.65 million for late and inaccurate reporting of municipal bond trades. Goldman Sachs was fined $140,000.


February 20, 2006

Securities regulators are moving to crack down on an online brokerage for allegedly permitting a controversial Wall Street trading practice called "naked shorting.''
Online brokerage TradeStation (TRAD:Nasdaq) recently disclosed that regulators at the NASD have notified the firm that some of its customers may have engaged in improper short sales. The Florida-based brokerage said in a filing that regulators could fine the firm for nearly 200 infractions that took place in 2004. TradeStation says regulators have found 172 improper short trades made during a two-month period in 2004. The trades allegedly were improper because they were made without an "affirmative determination" that TradeStation could either "receive delivery of the security on behalf of the customer'' or "borrow the security on behalf of the customer.''
TradeStation says the short sales being examined by regulators were "authorized and arranged'' by Bear Stearns (BSC), the big Wall Street firm that processes and executes trades for the smaller brokerage. A Bear Stearns spokesman declined to comment.


Apr 12, 2006

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- NYSE Regulation Inc. on Wednesday said it fined Spear Leeds Kellogg Specialists LLC $200,000 for improperly contacting companies considering listing on the New York Stock Exchange.  The alleged contact was made between June 2003 and March 2004, regulators said. The NYSE also faulted Spear Leeds, a unit of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., for failing to have proper systems in place to meet its disclosure obligations.

Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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Comments (30)
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By troydian on 6/1/2006 6:13 AM
It appears all must crumble to the ground before the hapless sleeping public, will realize they cannot trust the mainstream media to do anything but lie.. This propaganda state keeps folks from haveing to live the horror that we who ARE informed, are living in.. If more good folks stop listening to the propaganda that is dumped ( very heavily) ..We may have a chance... its not looking so good... BUT I am an optimist. so mabey it all needs to crumble to the ground so it can be rebuilt in a way so corruption is not the lead factor in buisness and politics...peace
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By yodo on 6/1/2006 6:44 AM
the link in the article dose not exist at the moment.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By Wonder Boy on 6/2/2006 6:23 AM
And the thieves get more support from the courts!!!


Federal Court Dismisses Lawsuit against DTCC
Friday June 2, 9:41 am ET


NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 2006--The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced today that by order entered May 31, 2006, the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, Las Vegas, has dismissed Whistler Investment, Inc.'s lawsuit against DTCC and its subsidiaries. The dismissal was "with prejudice," meaning that Whistler may not seek to amend its complaint.
ADVERTISEMENT


In granting DTCC's motion to dismiss, the court agreed with DTCC that clearing and settlement rules promulgated by DTCC's subsidiaries and approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cannot be challenged under state law. Because DTCC's Stock Borrow Program (SBP), the target of the lawsuit, is explicitly approved by and subject to the ongoing oversight of the SEC, the legal challenge is barred by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, on grounds of both "field" and "conflicts" preemption.

This order is the fourth time in the last year that a court has ruled that plaintiffs are not permitted to sue DTCC or its subsidiaries for carrying out functions that are regulated and overseen by the SEC. These are among a number of suits that have been brought, largely by bulletin board traded companies, who seek to blame their poor stock performance and failed business models on DTCC and the national market system for clearance and settlement. To date, except for one case where DTCC's dismissal motion is pending, all of the cases either have been dismissed by the courts or withdrawn by the plaintiffs.

"We are very pleased that judges across the country continue to reject these meritless claims," said Larry Thompson, DTCC's General Counsel. "Last year, DTCC settled more than $1.4 quadrillion in securities transactions. We play a pivotal role in the U.S. capital markets by providing the capacity, certainty and reliability required to clear and settle today's enormous trading volumes and maintain the integrity and soundness of the U.S. capital markets. All of our operations and activities are carried out under SEC-approved rules and are subject to strict federal regulatory oversight. This arrangement ensures uniformity and accountability in clearing and settling securities transactions and, in turn, provides the stability that is essential to the efficient functioning of our capital markets."

In ordering the dismissal of the Whistler case, Judge Robert C. Jones explicitly adopted the reasoning of Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in the case of Capece v. DTCC. In that case, which was dismissed by the court on October 11, 2005, Judge Ryskamp specifically found that, "Allowing Plaintiffs to assert a state law cause of action against Defendants (DTCC and its subsidiaries) would require Defendants to tailor their practices with regard to the SBP (stock borrow program) to satisfy each state's formulation of the standard of care in a negligence action. Such a result would destroy the Congressionally-mandated uniform system governing securities trading."

Thompson concluded, "By dismissing the Whistler case, Judge Jones has reaffirmed the importance and value of having clearly delineated authority in the area of market operations. We completely agree with this result, as does the SEC which has weighed in unequivocally on this issue."

In February 2006, the SEC filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of DTCC in one of the dismissed cases, Nanopierce Technologies Inc. v. DTCC, urging the Supreme Court of Nevada to affirm the lower court decision dismissing the case. The Nanopierce case, which makes identical claims to those in the Whistler action, is pending on appeal before the Supreme Court of Nevada. The SEC brief can be accessed at: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/briefs/nanopiercesecbrief.pdf. Additionally, in a May 12, 2006 follow-up letter to the Supreme Court of Nevada the SEC wrote, "Plaintiffs' claims are preempted because evaluating these claims of alleged defects has been entrusted by Congress to the (SEC), not to state courts."

In its letter to the Nevada court, the SEC stated, "The (SEC) found that the clearance and settlement system complies with the requirements of the Exchange Act when it approved the system more than twenty years ago, and it has continued to be of that view as it has exercised oversight responsibility ever since."

The SEC also stated that it "has adopted Regulation SHO for the purpose of preventing abusive naked short selling, and if it concludes that further steps are required, it will take them."

"The court's decision and the forceful statements made by the SEC underscore what DTCC has been saying since this misguided litigation campaign began," said Thompson. "Short selling and naked short selling are trading strategies and are not connected to the post-trade clearance and settlement of securities transactions. There is nothing in DTCC's operating procedures, activities or conduct that justifies these frivolous suits."

In the Whistler case, DTCC has sought to impose monetary sanctions against the plaintiffs' counsel for having brought frivolous litigation. That application will be pursued vigorously before Judge Jones.

About DTCC

DTCC is the parent company for the nation's principal clearing and settling firm, National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) and the nation's principal securities depository, The Depository Trust Company (DTC). NSCC is registered with the SEC to record, clear, and settle equity, bond, money market, government, mortgage-backed, insurance, and other security transactions. NSCC's services are utilized by the country's major brokerage firms, the U.S. government, the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the American Stock Exchange, and other markets. DTC is the nation's principal securities depository. DTCC's clearing and settlement subsidiaries are regulated by the SEC, which approves the rules under which they operate.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By rvac106 on 6/2/2006 6:30 AM
Can we get a list of the members of a pension fund that has been depleted by any of the manipulations? One of the institutional investors? Send them all a letter.

"We understand that your pension fund has experienced a decline in value. It is possible that one of the reasons for this decline is that your money was stolen by unscrupulous money managers on Wall Street. Please contact your local legislator at your earliest convenience, to determine whether you have been a victim, and whether any recompense is possible."

Enlist the common Joe.

Just a thought...

RVAC
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By rvac106 on 6/2/2006 6:37 AM
From sealman on 5/31/2006

Got to get their attention.
Interesting story about Americans sending bricks to their congressmen opposing amnesty and supporting the building of a wall along US/Mexican border. Right or wrong it got attention of the lawmakers. How about sending a bogus stock certificate for a share of the NYSE, clearly marked as "Counterfeit" to each of our congressment anlong with a letter advising they can turn in their bogus certificate for a real one by sending it back along with a pledge to support legislation against NSS and making SEC do its job.

From RVAC on 06/02/2006

seal:

yes, yes, yes. we can put the fake "BULL" cert in a box, approximately the size of a brick. maybe a blue box. Like the size of a box you get your checks in from the bank. wrapped in blue paper. sent to the congress. we all have those. make a template. they're making such a fuss about the bricks. we're not too proud to piggyback on a good idea, are we? do it.

advise, soonest.

RVAC
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By Freddo Cazzo on 6/2/2006 9:20 PM
Concliamato Mortis

FC
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By A spectator on 6/1/2006 6:45 AM
And who do we find seating at the DTCC Board of Directors, among others:

RANDOLPH L. COWEN
Chief Information Officer and Head of Operations
Goldman Sachs

As I said earlier, every bit seems interralated.

Now imagine a worse case scenario in which the DTCC comes into the spotlight as well as its repeated collusion in the bad boys' games gets acknowledged. The dominoes would start falling, guess where the fall would stop?

Everyone here grabs his counterpart by the balls and everyone are among the most powerful people up there.

We are talking about much more than an already feared -by some- collapse of Wall Street. Get it?

Looks that that a further, more aggressive open letter in a major paper to the President wouldn't do any bad.

Watching things unravel from Europe and hoping the American people will eventually wake up and react to this abuse...
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By Mississipibluffs on 6/1/2006 6:49 AM
Paulson talking the talk four years ago–

www.gs.com/our_firm/media_center/articles/press_release_2002_article_918630.html

Goldman Sachs Chairman Hank Paulson Calls For Action
June 5, 2002

NEW YORK – Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. called today for reform within the U.S. financial system to restore public confidence in business principles and practices, in a speech before the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C.
[more]

But the cheating continued. Complicit, powerless, or blind. Take your pick
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By rtway1 on 6/1/2006 7:01 AM
The reason that all of these scandalls exist and will continue to exist is because of the ignorance and apathy of the public concerning the mechanics of investing or even saving. My estimation is that 90% of the public does not understand compound interest or inflation. I have lived through these scandals for decades and the public has learned nothing from them because the system is designed to keep the public stupid. PERIOD. One could write volumes on how to correct all of these injustices but it would be futile unless we start to educate our populace about finances starting in grammar school that would also include investing. The mere statement "We do not accept or deny the allegations placed on us but we will pay the fines" is a personal slap at the intellect of our populace and our government. A terrorist group could start a hedge fund(if they haven,t already) and could operate for years as long as they paid their fines wink-wink, when ever they got caught doing something nasty. Political donations go a long way as to determining what course of action or inaction the stewards of our financial future might take. Unless the American public gets serious about taking back what is theirs and not having it stolen again all bets are off for a reform. Forget all the political bickering they are all dirty and they know it. It will take a Pat Byrne or Bob O,Brien mind set to get this country honest again. Until that time, watch out all you Martha Stewarts of the world, you are in deep trouble with this inept thing called SEC.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By x. trapnell on 6/1/2006 7:03 AM
As Charlie Gasparino pointed out yesterday on CNBC, Goldman Sachs should be considered a hedge fund and not an investment bank, since the bulk of their income now comes from proprietary trading, the details of which are kept secret, even from shareholders and analysts.

After Paulson's departure the new head is likely to be the guy who has been running the trading division.

I suspect that as long as Goldman plays along by paying fines once in a while they are essentially above the law when it comes to market manipulation.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By bobo on 6/1/2006 7:06 AM
Yodo. Thanks for the catch. It works now.

Astounding.

What do you do when your country has been bought and paid for by the money guys, in exchange for positions of power, and the right to poach at will amongst the grazing populace?
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By emassaro@wxs.nl on 6/1/2006 7:18 AM
Many thanks Bob, for your research on Goldman Sachs misconducts. I will use it to further document all administrative "errors" my dutch broker does with the excuse that it is their custodian Goldman Sachs policy......
Egidio Massaro.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By lenofus on 6/1/2006 7:27 AM
GS alumni now control NJ and the Treasury. I say, make them Defense Secretary, Sec of State. What the hell, how about the "Goldman Sachs of America"?
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By rick on 6/1/2006 7:36 AM
Bless you, bobo. You are doing a wonderful job. Thank you.

rick
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By bobo on 6/1/2006 7:59 AM
lenofus. Why bother to have all the burdens of obvious ownership when you can have all the benefits of use?
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By CMElec on 6/1/2006 8:18 AM
EB, you seem to have the Executive branch of the government pretty well involved in the larceny of Wall Street. Have you found any close ties involving the Judicial or Legislative branches? That in some sense would determine if we need to trash the system and start over or fix it peacefully with the non-corrupted powers that yet remain.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By troydian on 6/1/2006 8:19 AM
Everyday I think, well we have hit the apex of bizzarro world.. and then it gets even more bizzare.. I have informed all of my (public officials) aware of this issuue and this website.... the problem is at the very top of US govt obviously..no question since Bush appointed a golman saks criminal to head tresury... and a fox reporter for his mouthpiece... oh well
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By hemingway811 on 6/1/2006 8:26 AM
Here's another snippet from my GS file

Goldman Sachs Settlement Terms (2003)
As a result of the securities fraud investigation initiated by the New York State Attorney General's office, Goldman Sachs was charged with issuing unfair research, or research not in good faith.

Goldman Sachs analysts were attending meetings to prepare pitches to investment banking clients. Dummy research papers were ordered on a potential company to mislead investors on the company’s stock. One such questionable research includes WebEx. WebEx management dictated to Goldman Sachs analysts what the research should and should not include. WebEx maintains the management's information was accurate.

As part of the $1.4 billion Wall Street settlement, Goldman Sachs will pay:

$50 million in fines

$50 million toward independent research

$10 million toward investor education.

Penalty imposed by the SEC compared to Goldman Sach's annual net revenue - all figures in billions:

SEC Penalty Annual Net Revenue

2000 2001 2002

$ .11 $ 3.1 $2.3 $ 2.1

Most people reading about the multi-million fines levied against GS and others think it is a staggering sum and a just penalty. However, when you do an analysis and calculate the fines as a percentage of net revenue, you realize it's just a puny wrist-slap.

Since the only penalty for their larcency is a mere pittance in fines levied by the SEC and others, GS actually has an incentive to continue the larceny.






Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By Patchie on 6/1/2006 8:42 AM
Bob,

It is not just the fines...Look back on Goldman Sachs and see how many times they have a cease and desist issued by the SEC and then go out and commit the same violations where the SEC simply issues yet another cease and desist.

May 31, 2006 File No. 3-12310

(2) requires each firm to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and future violations of Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act;

and...

April 2000 File No. 3-10178

B. Goldman Sachs shall cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

How many 17(a)(2) cease and desist orders can you have before it is really a cease and desist?
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By browntrout on 6/1/2006 9:01 AM
Patchie- Catch 22. If you never admit to any wrong doing when you settle it makes it pretty hard to claim they did something wrong in the past when they do it again. Go figure!
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By Patchie on 6/1/2006 9:17 AM
Good point - I guess that "without admitting or denying" would be the legal excuse to violate the cease and desist orders.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By a_spectator on 6/1/2006 9:29 AM
Reboot the system?
Very summarized but still...

1.executive branch:
-federal: seems hihgly corrupted willingly or not.
-states: governors, essentially following their legislature advice are hopefully more concerned with the citizen's needs and demands as Huntsman's Bill seems to indicate.

2.legislative branch:
-federal: judging from what little the Senate Committee on Banking (namely Sen. Shelby) has achieved on the matter seems corrupted.
-states: a light of hope. Let's see whether Utah's stance induces some traction elsewhere.

3. judicial branch:
-federal: the supreme court's nomination procedure as per wikipedia: "...are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate..." cf points 1. and 2.
-states: last week's SEC atempt to influence a Nevada court seems to indicate they don't feel they have a grip on them.

Paraphrasing Bobo's the closer to NYC the stinkier, the farthest the healthiest the air. The change will come from base to top. Don't count too much on the other way round.

Good luck.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By sealman on 6/1/2006 9:46 AM
Bobo, man how you make my day. Thanks for all the hard work and great reporting.
Q. How do we know for sure that the fines imposed by the SEC are actually collected or somehow returned via a third party? Is there a paper trail?
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By robelita on 6/1/2006 11:02 AM
I believe there is a confluence of factors-this being but one. I still envison a huge transfer of wealth unless steps are taken soon to avert an inevitable fiscal disaster. For a sobering read:

http://www.ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=SLGLF&read=30721
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By dave on 6/1/2006 11:08 AM
We need to identify the arrestable human beings that are pulling the strings.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=GS
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By hhawes on 6/1/2006 11:31 AM
What's the latest on the Gary Weiss fisasco? Has evidence no. 3 been presented?
SEC Orders Admin Proceedings (yesterday) By Jim Cramer's former employer (Goldman Sachs) on 6/1/2006 11:34 AM
http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/2006/33-8687.pdf

and

http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/2006/33-8700.pdf
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By bobo on 6/1/2006 12:27 PM
Gary's elaborate and technically deficient explanation for how he was posting for lambo, and how lamb's IP was doing minor niggling edits on his wikepedia entry. have been deleted. As has been the flickr account containing the screens connecting the dots. No proof number 3 yet, but I've seen some of it, and it is 100%.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By Niel Storts on 6/1/2006 3:17 PM
Every generation must stage a revolution in order to stop the entrenchment of power causing corruption. Paraphrasing tomas jefferson here. Time to stop allowing these clowns to continue. Draw, and quarter the scum. Dust off the choppers ax.
Re: Why Doesn't The Government Do Anything About Wall Street Corruption? By InTheKnow on 6/1/2006 5:39 PM
Wall Street robs every investor blind, so what do they do...

Put Martha Stewart in jail!

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