There are two Americas. Two distinctly different worlds under one flag.
There are two banking systems - one for you and I and most, where every move is scrutinized in ostensible wars against crime, drugs, terror, whatever boogieman suffices for the headlines...and one where anonymous pools of money move billions of dollars internationally without any reporting, using the markets as their liquidity mechanism.
There are two justice systems - one for poor black kids selling $20 worth of drugs in an effort to make ends meet in their grim world, one where you go to jail for robbing liquor stores, or defying the IRS, or being violent or criminal....and one where criminality, fraud, theft are celebrated and protected by our most powerful institutions.
There are two information systems - one where mouth-breathing illiterates are expected to drool over the latest developments on second rate talent shows or dimwitted soap operas while their "news" consists of the exploits of substance abusing skanks and the latest domestic violence atrocities (a predictable bi-product of a polarized consumer society that's a pressure cooker entirely predicated on material gain and amoral avariciousness)....and one where those in the know smugly control what makes it to the masses.
In the midst of this, the SEC had their largely ceremonial meeting yesterday, and the result was precisely as predicted.
The unlawful grandfathering of delivery failures was eliminated. Sort of. As of some date. Assuming anyone obeys, and enforces, any of the rules.
The unbelievably egregious market maker exemption, which enables speculators in the options market to lay their options hedging costs off onto unsuspecting equity investors, directly and obviously harming them (which absolutely nobody contests as being the case) was waffled into another delaying period, whereby these extremely rich and powerful options speculators can continue to directly and dramatically harm equity investors, while the SEC "seeks further comment" on the issue.
Funny, I thought the 1934 Act, which forbids exemptions unless they are necessary for the protection of investors and in the public interest, was the last word on that. Apparently not. What Congress should have said is, "Exemptions aren't allowed unless you are really rich and powerful and can buy the commission's allegiance, in which case you get a hall pass to rape and pillage at will."
To say that I'm beyond disgusted in the US market system as well as our regulatory framework is an understatement. A grandfathering provision that was passed against all SEC rules requiring a comment submission, which has caused incalculable harm to investors so that hedge funds and prime brokers and market manipulators can run amok in the capital markets, was finally shot down, after years of damage. Gee. That's nice. And now we can expect the massive unlawful loophole for market makers to remain unchallenged for as long as the SEC can stall.
Is anyone at all fooled by this any more? Max Keiser's great video (the topic of the previous blog) spells it out in under half an hour, in terms a chimp could grasp, and yet the see no evil SEC pretends that is is all a mystery, while the wholly bought and paid for politicians act baffled as to what is going on.
Anyone that thinks those with different colored skin or different political or religious beliefs are the greatest threat to the American way should carefully consider how corrupted that way has become. An idea of representative government, a republic where the citizen/individual's rights and protection are paramount, has been replaced by a kleptocracy, where the resources of the many are stolen by the few special interests who direct the military/industrial/financial complex's actions for their own direct benefit, both nationally, and internationally. That's the way it is. Sorry folks. No other conclusion can be drawn.
And yesterday's meeting merely confirmed it.