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Good Help Is So Hard To Find...

Location: Blogs Bob O'Brien's Sanity Check Blog    
Posted by:   bobo 10/20/2006 5:52 AM

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Sign the Market Reform Petition now. Click here to view it.

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

This article pretty much captures the state of the union at present.

Two former Treasury Secretaries are now with large hedge funds.

So, a year or so ago, when John Snow was busy opining, apropos of nothing, about hedge funds and how they shouldn't have their affairs regulated, what he was doing was defending a segment of the market that was to become his employer.

Wall Street has a wonderful way of buying whatever and whomever could cause it problems, or could further its agenda - which as far as I can tell, is the enrichment of Wall Street above all other concerns, and at the direct expense of the country.

What better way than to make it quite clear that good administration boys and girls can expect mega-bucks jobs if they play along?

Anyone have even the slightest problem comprehending how this could play at the SEC level? Never mind that the top echelons of government are revolving doors for Wall Street. Let's pretend that isn't the case, and further pretend that our securities regulator is even marginally concerned with reining in widespread corruption and larceny on the Street. Does anyone doubt for a second that even the dimmest bulb at the Commission understands that their cushy retirement is directly dependent upon the very bad guys they are chartered with protecting the public from?

I mean, I get it. It's not hard. And I see former Treasury Secretaries going to work for stock pools (that's what unregulated pools of private money were called back in the good old 1920s), and former international financial luminaries going to work for Wall Street, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out where the juice is.

And it isn't in protecting the public.

Our system has broken down. It used to be the idea that bad politicians would be voted out, and that crooked cops would be sent to the big house. Now we know that what actually happens is that the most corrupt gain prominence chairing strategic committees, and the most pliable regulators and cabinet members land plumb gigs for mega money "advising" the industry.

I wish someone would make me a huge dollar offer to "advise" them on weighty matters. As I've said in the past, unmarked bills would be best, as would precious metals or bearer bonds. Lavish luxury penthouses, dream dates with MTV super-starlets, obscenely ostentatious yachts, mad tricked-out Bentleys, deeds to mansions or private jets would also be considered. I'm easy. So here's the official solicitation:

Anyone requiring the unique consulting services of a holiday rodent, whose experience involves massive involvement in seasonal commodities distribution, as well as concealing tangibles from children, should email me. I am very, very expensive, and quite discreet. The larger the amounts, the more you can expect, so dig deep, and don't be a cheapskate. This is no time to try to bargain. You get what you pay for. Buy cheap, buy twice. Investing in quality will pay dividends.

You really don't have to limit your purchases...er...I mean, your resource allocation...to influential members of the press, political system or regulatory network. Now you can get popular figures from well-loved children's fables. So don't wait for the bidding war. Step up, and drop the fat stacks on the Bunny.

Because Santa's going to cost a fortune. Don't wait. Act now.

I'm already rehearsing my lines. "Don't fix it if it ain't broke." "No regulation is needed - the market is a self-correcting mechanism." "There is no naked short selling problem - it's all a bunch of disgruntled scam artists." "I'm a member of the media, you can't subpoena me." "Reg SHO is working."

I can play with the best of them. Any outlandish absurdity can be stated with complete sincerity, and an absolute inability to recognize conflicting data or the merits of any logical argument. You want me to say that hedge funds are good for the economy? You betcha they are -  let's start with my personal economy. Want to float the idea that the market is fair and honest? Just tell me how many notes you want it sung in. Mountains of trading data giving you the blues? Rubbish, all of it - I'll mount a Chewbacca that will make your head swim and your eyes water. You'll be wondering how to borrow money from orphans to invest in the market by the time I'm done. Lost a fortune by good stocks being decimated via manipulation? Hogwash - you're a degenerate gambler who's a sore loser.

See?

Large bills are OK. Large numbers of large bills are even more OK.

Have a good weekend everyone.
Copyright ©2006 Bob O'Brien
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Comments (38)
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By jza4 on 10/20/2006 10:27 AM
That about sums it up!!!
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By InTheKnow on 10/20/2006 10:38 AM
We aren't the only one that think our government is filled with theives and perverts.

Read Rollingstones article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/worst_congress_ever
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By ruse on 10/21/2006 8:04 PM
Paladin:

The achilles heel is that they lie to the retailers when they send out the confirmation statements and brokerage statements that imply the shares are safe and sound in the retail brokers account.

They know that their scam only works if the retailer is unaware their property has been rented out to push down the value of their investment.

It isn't legal to lie for gain. They call that fraud, even mail fraud. Whoever mails that statement out is commiting a criminal act.

Bottom line:

- criminals made a lot of money
- they used their money to buy off media, politicians and regulators
- we found out about it
- we're going to send the criminals to jail
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By We found out.. on 10/22/2006 4:03 AM
Who is going to build the jails? Where is the money going to come from to do that?
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By msucog on 10/22/2006 4:59 AM
most will never see jail...they'll cry "freedom of speech!" or proclaim that they were within the limits of the very lax law (that they helped influence)...and they'll take their trillions of stolen dollars and fade away...but, you gotta start somewhere...perhaps a few will be made examples out of...funny thing is that martha was busted, sentenced and jailed in no time...where is that diligence and efficiency with the real thieves that are doing much, much worse things?
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By martha on 10/22/2006 6:44 AM
Rocker is a big investor in Martha now. I wonder if he was caught short way back when. Someone benefited when she went to jail and her stock went down.

Everyone knows she was the scapegoat.
NYT missed the fact Aguiire's Boss's Boss (Berger) joined By short seller on 10/22/2006 8:19 AM
Mary Jo White's firm six months after halting the Mack Investigation for a multi million dollar salary. Mary Jo was hired by Morgan Stanley and made the call to the SEC to "ask" if the Mack investigation would lead to charges.

Was Bereger paid to stop the Mack investgation? Nope, just a coincidence.



http://www.debevoise.com/Attorneys/Detail.aspx?id=26af1fa8-0acf-4ef5-9c3b-1f08b1aa7de0



http://www.debevoise.com/newseventspubs/news/detail.aspx?id=51d4ec8d-8337-446a-b298-6af3a86644e8

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/22/business/web.1022pequot.php

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2006/07/morgan_stanleys.html
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By I hear the train a comin on 10/22/2006 8:52 AM
It's rollin' round the bend
Dow Jones reports the Berger White link By short seller on 10/22/2006 9:01 AM
10-18-06 04:08 PM EST
(Adds comment from Debevoise partner in sixth paragraph that there was no contact with Berger in June 2005 and that Berger recused himself from Debevoise matters starting in Jan.)

By Judith Burns

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A congressional investigation into claims that the Securities and Exchange Commission gave favorable treatment to Wall Street investment-banking executive John Mack in an insider-trading probe of Pequot Capital Management has taken a new turn.

SEC lawyers have been told to search their email for messages about a former SEC enforcement attorney who was hired by Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, the law firm that conducted its own investigation of Mack before he was named as chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley (MS) in June 2005. At the time, SEC lawyers contemplated questioning Mack in connection with the insider-trading probe.

Paul Berger, formerly an associate director in the SEC's enforcement division, left the SEC this summer to become a partner in Debevoise's Washington, D.C., office. Debevoise partner Mary Jo White, formerly the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, represented Morgan Stanley's board as it was conducting due diligence on Mack.

SEC enforcement lawyers have been ordered to produce email references to Berger and employment, seen as a sign of concerns that Berger may have been hired by Debevoise in exchange for favorable treatment of Mack, according to individuals familiar with the matter, who agreed to speak provided they remain anonymous. One of these individuals said the implication of a quid-pro-quo is " ludicrous."

Berger, a 14-year veteran of the SEC, received its Stanley Sporkin Award for " exceptionally tenacious and insightful contributions" to the enforcement of the federal securities laws. His move to Debevoise was announced May 18.

"In the course of our work for the Morgan Stanley board in June of 2005, nobody at the firm had any contact with Paul Berger," said Martin Evans, a presiding partner at Debevoise. Berger recused himself from working on any Debevoise-related matters at the SEC "the first time we had any employment contact," beginning in January 2006, Evans added.

SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment on the email search. Berger, White spokesman Marvin Smilon and Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Jeanmarie McFadden also declined to comment.

Pequot, a prominent Connecticut-based hedge fund, informed clients earlier this month that the SEC staff had decided not to charge the firm or its employees. Mack, a Pequot investor and long-time friend of Pequot Chairman Art Samberg, also won't face enforcement action.

Former SEC attorney Gary Aguirre claims he was fired in September 2005 for aggressively pursuing whether Mack, then head of Credit Suisse Group (CS), might have tipped Pequot to non-public information in 2001. Aguirre said he complained to Berger after his immediate supervisors blocked him from questioning Mack; Berger later joined Aguirre's supervisors in recommending that Aguirre be fired.

Aguirre went to lawmakers, charging that senior SEC officials gave special treatment to Mack, a major fundraiser for President George W. Bush. Aguirre's claims were first reported by the New York Times on June 23.

Mack was questioned by SEC lawyers in the matter this summer. The SEC doesn't comment on investigations but in court documents filed in September rejected Aguirre's claim of political favoritism for Mack.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, are leading the push to investigate whether the SEC pulled back from a full-scale probe because of Mack's political clout.

"We are working very closely with those committees," Cox told reporters after an SEC meeting Wednesday. In response to questions about the Senate investigation, Cox said lawmakers have "legitimate concerns and I share those concerns."

Senate Judiciary Committee spokeswoman Courtney Boone declined to comment on whether the email search request was prompted by congressional investigators, saying "the committee is in the preliminary stages of an examination and thus the details of the examination cannot be commented on."

Aguirre's attorney, Joanne Royce, and Senate Finance Committee spokeswoman Jill Kozeny had no immediate comment.

-By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6692; Judith.Burns@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-18-06 1608ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By Coinkydink on 10/22/2006 10:13 AM
short seller - "Was Bereger paid to stop the Mack investgation? Nope, just a coincidence."

Yes an another coincidence is the cush job that Mary Jo White's husband was given at the SEC during the same time period.

Sounds like business as usual at the SEC protecting the big money crooks.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By Broken cookie jar on 10/22/2006 10:56 AM
More than half a billion dollars earmarked to fight the insurgency in Iraq was stolen by people the U.S. had entrusted to run the country's Ministry of Defense before the 2005 elections, according to Iraqi investigators.

Iraq's former minister of finance says coalition members like the U.S. and Britain are doing little to help recover the money or catch suspects, most of whom fled the country. The 60 Minutes investigation also turned up audio recordings of a suspect who seems to be discussing the transfer of $45 million to the account of a top political adviser to the interim defense minister.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/19/60minutes/main2109200.shtml
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By stop the vomit on 10/22/2006 11:00 AM
http://www.petitiononline.com/mrktrfrm/petition.html
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By bbhindyou on 10/23/2006 4:51 AM
Bunny it won't work they charge you for something that does not exist.
You deliver eggs filled with goodies for free.
Unless you start charging a fortune for eggs and when they open them they are empty you won't fit in with this bunch.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By robelita on 10/24/2006 7:25 AM
searrows ,

That is what I have been advocating all along-ALL incumbents need to be removed from office. The problem lies in voter ignorance and apathy.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By clearthinker on 10/20/2006 10:43 AM
As Morpheus told Neo......"welcome to the real world".......The stock market is nothing more than a casino...just different odds nad more wyas for the house to win....no wonder brokers charge $7 to trade....it's like the $7.99 prime rib buffet in Vegas....

Matt Broderick was in a movie years ago called War Games....
After playing out all possible outcomes for Global Thermonuclear War a brief "conversation" between Joshua (a computer) and Professor Falken (the programmer)

Joshua: Greetings, Professor Falken.

Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua.

Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?


Indeed, the only winning move is not to play........
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By virakiller on 10/20/2006 11:12 AM
the only winning move is TO PLAY and ask for what you purchased because
"seeing is believing" you say on my account I bought these stocks
PROVE IT
SEND ME THE PAPER

and if they don't send it go to office with a baseball bat and ask them again

we will stop this financial destruction of America

I got to go read rolling stone now
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By InTheKnow on 10/20/2006 11:13 AM
You just have to find the winning lottery ticket to bust the house.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By JaneM on 10/20/2006 11:54 AM
You think this is bad?

Little Gary now writing for Forbes.

http://garyweiss.blogspot.com/
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By mail on 10/20/2006 12:05 PM
stealing/buying someone's mail is not a smart move, keep digging those holes. bad bad boys and girls.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By States Rights on 10/20/2006 1:22 PM
Look to States my friends look to the States!
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By Ranger on 10/20/2006 2:44 PM
I am glad you have come to your senses. The only way to fix the problem is for everybody to jump in and play along. When the whole thing breaks down then change will take place. I have stated over and over again BIG MONEY is going to win and everybody should follow what they are doing. Eventually the system will break down and we can start all over agan. I lost all my money trying to support stocks that were targets of the short selling hedge funds. I made some of it back doing what they are doing. The patterns are there. Of course it will never break will it. I mean there is an endless supply of folks willing to put money into the stock market and leave it there for years and years right. Seems to me like the population has been told over and over again the stock market is the only place to create wealth. Put money in month after month and when you retire it will be there for you. I also suspect that congress is going to allow new folks to put thier social security money into the market so that BIG MONEY can really get a handle on how much money they can count on being invested every money without any frear of those retiree's moving the money out of stocks. This is a long way from being over and at 42 years old I got years and years of safe returns returns following the short sellers around and piling into the destruction of companies with them. What a country.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By ginger on 10/20/2006 2:57 PM
Watch "The Net at Risk"...

Big Media has plans to prevent bloggers from competing.

Substitute "SEC" for "FCC" ... Check it out!!

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/index.html
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By notfair on 10/20/2006 2:57 PM
Ranger, the problem is it isn't fair. If you were to short selll a $.001 stock, they'd make you put up $1 per share in collateral and make you borrow the shares.

Only the system (brokerage owners, specialists, market makers, clearing houses, etc.) get to play with other people's money and counterfeit into the bids.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By oldfeller on 10/20/2006 4:03 PM
good help is still available. ask some people that work for a living. ask some vets who are returning from the war. good help is very available. the problem is with the few, not the many.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By HEDGE FUNDS for SELF-REGULATING on 10/20/2006 6:41 PM
HAHAHA. Other self-policing outfits that fail to protect the PUBLIC while pretending to: NASD, FED, DTC, Mafia.......

Frontier justice
Oct 19th 2006 | FRANKFURT AND NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition



Facing calls for transparency, hedge funds try self-policing


THERE is a bit of the frontier spirit about hedge funds—albeit one of algorithms rather than Apaches. Until recently, they have kept their heads down at any talk of regulation. But as pressure mounts for more external oversight of a $1.2 trillion industry that is taking a growing share of the world's pension investments, some funds are muttering, through gritted teeth, of the need for self-policing.

The demand for more light to be shed on hedge funds has reached a level not seen since the near-collapse in 1998 of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), a vast hedge fund. The $6.5 billion loss incurred last month by Amaranth Advisors, a Connecticut-based fund that took bad bets on natural gas, reopened the regulation debate in America's Congress.

The rest at: http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8058180
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By IntheKnow on 10/20/2006 7:01 PM
Check this out:

http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/newsanalysis/wallstreet/10314189.html
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By mig on 10/20/2006 7:22 PM
I especially liked this line.

"Cerberus...will benefit from Snow's political and business contacts"

Is that another way of saying we will be able to get more inside information to trade with?
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By bbhindyou on 10/21/2006 4:25 AM
Ginger I saw the writing on the wall for this two years ago.
A student in a science degree course was doing the required political science /government course when he stumbled on the beginings of this.
When he brought it up to me in disbelief I told him that it would become the standard policy by 2010 to limit any internet content to approved content only and that the communication of the masses via internet would be tightly controlled as the rest of the mainstream media.
I was wrong I put the date too far out.
DICTATORSHIP HERE NOW IN THE OPEN.
It's been nice talking with all you independent critical thinkers,too bad it won't be allowed to continue much longer.
I wouldn't put it past them to get rid of the government class requirement for the science degrees either, too many students put the required courses off till the end and by then the other hard science courses have taught them how to be critical thinkers, nothing more dangerous than a person with the ability to THINK in a poli/sci course!
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By Collusion What Collusion? on 10/21/2006 6:33 AM
Study reveals link in options scandal Corporate pay - Researchers show that some
directors sat on the same company boards
Friday, October 20, 2006 ELLEN SIMON

NEW YORK -- On tennis courts and golf courses, in bars and restaurants, at meetings and conventions, it seems corporate board members spread the word about a novel way to boost executive compensation: backdating options.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1161323148316290.xml&coll=7
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By loud footsteps on 10/21/2006 7:37 AM
PIPE market has been rife with abuse, especially by traders looking to take advantage of the usual decline in a company's share price immediately after the completion of a deal.

the investors took steps to conceal their allegedly illegal activity.
illegal short-selling scheme.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By rtway1 on 10/21/2006 9:08 AM
Every time I seen Snow interviewed he never answered one question. He would just do a dance and throw out some meaningless statement and try to spin the subject. He was a token used to keep the system as it was.
*** Scumbags All *** By InTheKnow on 10/21/2006 11:44 AM
http://www1.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=3532&mn=1943&pt=msg&mid=665234
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By searrows on 10/21/2006 11:52 AM
To hell with the war on terrorism what we need is a war on corruption.... The odds are certainly against us. With the elections coming up, should we vote against all incumbants. Who are the brokers and Hedge Funds and other crooks supporting?
*** The direct link to the NY Times *** By InTheKnow on 10/21/2006 11:52 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/business/22hedge.html?ex=1319169600&en=e6c5bbdba48ec02a&ei=5088&partner=rss
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By lottery ticket on 10/21/2006 12:11 PM
InTheKnow: can they lie their way out of this one?

Now, it is the S.E.C. that is under scrutiny. Two Senate committees — Finance and Judiciary — are investigating how diligently the S.E.C. pursued its Pequot inquiry, whether Mr. Aguirre’s firing was an attempt to silence him, and whether senior S.E.C. officials gave special treatment to Mr. Mack by not taking his testimony when Mr. Aguirre wanted to. Mr. Mack, a major fund-raiser for President Bush’s 2004 campaign, was eventually interviewed last August, after Congress began asking questions. 

The congressional inquiry centers on dozens of pages of internal S.E.C. documents that Mr. Aguirre turned over to Congress and were obtained by The New York Times. The documents, including e-mail messages from Mr. Samberg and his associates, as well as contemporaneous e-mails from investigators, provide the first inside look at the case, and shed light on why the two Senate panels are interested in the matter. 

The primary focus of the congressional inquiry is the S.E.C.’s investigation into Pequot’s purchase of stock in Heller Financial, a financial services firm, and the dispute over taking Mr. Mack’s testimony. The documents say that Pequot became the nation’s biggest purchaser of Heller stock in the four weeks before the company was acquired by GE Capital in July 2001. Mr. Samberg bet $44 million on Heller and wanted to invest even more, according to the documents, but his trader could not fill all the orders. 


“I shouldn’t say this, but you have probably paid for yourself already!” Mr. Samberg wrote to the former Microsoft manager as he was preparing to join Pequot in 2001. 

*** SEC Investgated *** By InTheKnow on 10/21/2006 12:17 PM
You have to be braindead NOT to know what is going on there.
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By searrows on 10/21/2006 4:42 PM
To hell with the war on terrorism what we need is a war on corruption.... The odds are certainly against us. With the elections coming up, should we vote against all incumbants. Who are the brokers and Hedge Funds and other crooks supporting?
Re: Good Help Is So Hard To Find... By Paladin on 10/21/2006 7:43 PM

More on the dirty, hidden side of the brokerage world....from Arne Alsin in the "Financial Times."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f8701238-6050-11db-a716-0000779e2340.html

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