Finally, an SEC that is doing what it was created to do--protect the American public from thieves, charlatans and crooks.
Of course, it's way overdue but hey, we'll take it.
It seems the SEC is finally accusing Angelo Mozilo, the former head of the now-defunct Countrywide Financial, of securities fraud and insider trading.
We all know Countrywide and Mr. Mozilo as the scumbag organization and the scumbag, respectively, who brought so many billions of dollars of bad mortgages to the country. In the meantime, Mr. Mozilo lined his pockets with many billions of dollars.
In referring to Countrywide's products, Mr. Mozilo called the loans "toxic" and "poison". His own words.
It's been common knowledge from coast to coast, that Countrywide and Mr. Mozilo were dirty and had run an illegal, shameful operation but the SEC hadn't done anything yet.
The time has finally come.
Thank goodness.
Great news on an otherwise bad business news day.
In the meantime, there are stories out right now about the banks who have been in so much financial trouble and who brought the country to the current financial crisis and nightmare we're in, still being in control of their friends up in Washington (read: the Senate and House) and that Senator Max Baucus isn't letting single-payer lobbyists in the health care field into his negotiations over our health care system.
We're screwed.
Link to stories:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/business/05insider.html?_r=1&th&emc=th#
http://www.propublica.org/ion/bailout/item/another-tale-of-successful-bank-lobbying/#10943
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/business/economy/05bankrupt.html?em
http://www.truthout.org/060509K
Showing posts with label SEC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEC. Show all posts
Friday, June 5, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
More financial travesties
You no doubt read about the large bank failing this past week and the many more millions (billions?) of dollars it's going to cost the American taxpayer (read: you and me).
Don't look now but 2 more failed last evening, in Illinois.
Less evident is the fact that, after you and I, via the government, pick up the tab for these extremely badly run banks, other bankers are asked to buy these assets (the good stuff of the bank) at bargain prices. So the other, 2nd banks, pick up a magnificent bargain, folks, and you and I paid for it.
It just keeps going on.
But wait! There's more!
In today's New York Times, 2 tiny little paragraphs in the 2nd, "Business Day" section told, first, of yet another multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme--this one out of California that came to and cost #200 million, almost unbelievably--that the SEC didn't prevent or catch, while it was going on.
Thanks again, SEC! (What have you been doing for the last 8 years?).
Secondly, the Times told of a former scumbag President of that true den of inequity, theft and lies that was Countrywide Financial, one Stanley Kurland, is not only in jail serving time for crimes committed, actually, besides being free and uncharged for crimes, he's also filing through a new company (PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust) for an IPO.
Seems he hasn't cheated enough people in his first incarnation at Countrywide or made enough money so he's coming back 'round for more.
The foxes are still in charge of the hen houses.
On that first one, I have to ask questions again, that I asked earlier, of the SEC and those are:
1) Is this the last big Ponzi scheme that's out there?
2) How did this happen?
3) What were you--the SEC--doing while this was taking place?
4) Have new regulations and provisions been put in place to make certain this doesn't happen again/any more?
I'll probably write more soon, about Blackrock, a company that also fleeced the public for millions of dollars but is not only still in charge of the country's financial system, they're making new rules with this Administration, for others to follow, while the "help clean up this current mess", making more money, all the while.
It's incestuous and ugly.
Are you paying attention?
Links to original stories here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/23bizbriefs-FIRMLEDBYEXH_BRF.html?_r=1&sq=&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1243098626-JXmKz0MRm1gYG99zxMVyfw
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/23bizbriefs-3ACCUSEDOF20_BRF.html?scp=1&sq=3%20accused%20of%20%24200%20million%20&st=cse
Don't look now but 2 more failed last evening, in Illinois.
Less evident is the fact that, after you and I, via the government, pick up the tab for these extremely badly run banks, other bankers are asked to buy these assets (the good stuff of the bank) at bargain prices. So the other, 2nd banks, pick up a magnificent bargain, folks, and you and I paid for it.
It just keeps going on.
But wait! There's more!
In today's New York Times, 2 tiny little paragraphs in the 2nd, "Business Day" section told, first, of yet another multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme--this one out of California that came to and cost #200 million, almost unbelievably--that the SEC didn't prevent or catch, while it was going on.
Thanks again, SEC! (What have you been doing for the last 8 years?).
Secondly, the Times told of a former scumbag President of that true den of inequity, theft and lies that was Countrywide Financial, one Stanley Kurland, is not only in jail serving time for crimes committed, actually, besides being free and uncharged for crimes, he's also filing through a new company (PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust) for an IPO.
Seems he hasn't cheated enough people in his first incarnation at Countrywide or made enough money so he's coming back 'round for more.
The foxes are still in charge of the hen houses.
On that first one, I have to ask questions again, that I asked earlier, of the SEC and those are:
1) Is this the last big Ponzi scheme that's out there?
2) How did this happen?
3) What were you--the SEC--doing while this was taking place?
4) Have new regulations and provisions been put in place to make certain this doesn't happen again/any more?
I'll probably write more soon, about Blackrock, a company that also fleeced the public for millions of dollars but is not only still in charge of the country's financial system, they're making new rules with this Administration, for others to follow, while the "help clean up this current mess", making more money, all the while.
It's incestuous and ugly.
Are you paying attention?
Links to original stories here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/23bizbriefs-FIRMLEDBYEXH_BRF.html?_r=1&sq=&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1243098626-JXmKz0MRm1gYG99zxMVyfw
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/23bizbriefs-3ACCUSEDOF20_BRF.html?scp=1&sq=3%20accused%20of%20%24200%20million%20&st=cse
Friday, April 3, 2009
Still kowtowing to Big Business
I wrote earlier this week how hopeful I was because German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy were so adamant about and pushing for true change and strong regulation, worldwide, of financial markets and now this, today--it seems the US' Financial Accounting Standards Board buckled to political pressure from bankers and their toady Congresspersons.
Bankers didn't like that so much of their assets, on their books, are so much lower in value because of this current banking crisis/fiasco. Regulations, up to now, said values of their mortgages and products would have to be whatever the real market value was.
That made sense.
Values of their products shouldn't be arbitrary, of course.
So, now that there's such a big financial crisis and everything has gone to heck, including and especially bank's assets and their values on the stock markets, they want to say that these assets are actually worth much more--in a "regular" market, which of course, this isn't.
This is insanity.
The government now, with this ruling by Congresspeople, has made it possible for the bankers to decide what the value of their assets are.
I ask you, is this not insanity?
The market no longer rules. It's not "supply and demand" deciding the value of a product. It's the banker themselves.
For some sanity, let's quote the Investors Working Group and 2 former SEC Chairmen who lead it, from their statement on this travesty:
"In order to create high-quality accounting standards, it is critical that the process be independent and free from political pressure... To the extent that these new FASB proposals reduce the free flow of transparent and reliable financial information, they undermine investor interests and weaken their ability to make sound investment decisions."
And that's the least of it. That's incredibly understated.
This is exactly the opposite of the stronger, smarter and more stringent accounting methods we should be developing right now, so we avoid big financial failures and crises in the future.
This makes us look, further, like a Third World banana republic and not responsible at all.
Bankers didn't like that so much of their assets, on their books, are so much lower in value because of this current banking crisis/fiasco. Regulations, up to now, said values of their mortgages and products would have to be whatever the real market value was.
That made sense.
Values of their products shouldn't be arbitrary, of course.
So, now that there's such a big financial crisis and everything has gone to heck, including and especially bank's assets and their values on the stock markets, they want to say that these assets are actually worth much more--in a "regular" market, which of course, this isn't.
This is insanity.
The government now, with this ruling by Congresspeople, has made it possible for the bankers to decide what the value of their assets are.
I ask you, is this not insanity?
The market no longer rules. It's not "supply and demand" deciding the value of a product. It's the banker themselves.
For some sanity, let's quote the Investors Working Group and 2 former SEC Chairmen who lead it, from their statement on this travesty:
"In order to create high-quality accounting standards, it is critical that the process be independent and free from political pressure... To the extent that these new FASB proposals reduce the free flow of transparent and reliable financial information, they undermine investor interests and weaken their ability to make sound investment decisions."
And that's the least of it. That's incredibly understated.
This is exactly the opposite of the stronger, smarter and more stringent accounting methods we should be developing right now, so we avoid big financial failures and crises in the future.
This makes us look, further, like a Third World banana republic and not responsible at all.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
What oughta' happen
Did you hear that Bernie Madoff wants to keep $62 million dollars that he put in his wife's name and their $7 million dollar Manhattan home?
This guy's chutzpah just doesn't quit.
And sure, our gut reaction is "hell, no!"
But on a more cerebral, thought out plane, here are two reasons why he shouldn't get to keep either, no matter whose name they're in:
1) In all the years and with all the money--50 billion dollars, give or take--he took from people, he NEVER ONCE INVESTED ONE PENNY OF IT IN STOCKS OR ANY INVESTMENT TOOLS. Not once. The SEC, though they don't otherwise do their job, confirmed this much, anyway.
If he deliberately took this money, from the start, and never invested it, it seems pretty clear that his goal, right away, right from the start, was to scam people with a ponzi scheme. If that's the case, then everything he and his wife have is ill-gotten and should be returned to these scammed investors.
2) If you haven't read the list of people and organizations Bernie Madoff scammed, you should. (Link here: http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_madoff_victims_20081215.html) It's staggering.
Two brief examples:
He took $14,500,000.00 froom Yeshiva University in New York, alone. And that wasn't one of the largest amounts he took, by any means.
Can you imagine stealing from a Jewish University, even if you're NOT Jewish?
The second example is also particularly egregious, to me. He took $15,000.000.00 from The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
My God. He really had no shame at all.
The largest amount he took from one organization was a staggering 7 billion 500 million dollars (from Fairfield Greenwich Advisors).
One organization.
Those are just a few, brief examples from a very long list of people and groups from whom he stole.
And this is all staggering for three reasons.
One, the large amounts he took from people and organizations.
Two, the people and organizations he took this money from--big names, in the world and big philanthropists and philanthropic charities. He totally, absolutely showed no shame or mercy from whom he took money.
And finally, three, he had an incredible ability to take money from organizations--largely Jewish--that do, did and were doing such good, generous, philanthropic work. Again, he was shameless and exploited these people and organizations completely, totally, in some cases.
There are individuals and couples who have been destroyed, financially, because of him and his blatant, ugly, brazen theft.
So no. No sympathy or empathy for Bernard Madoff. That 62 million dollars in his wife's name now was never his. Neither was the 7 million dollar apartment in Manhattan. He got both by exploiting and exposing these people and groups completely, totally and utterly.
He should be shown the same mercy he showed his "investors", who trusted him.
This guy's chutzpah just doesn't quit.
And sure, our gut reaction is "hell, no!"
But on a more cerebral, thought out plane, here are two reasons why he shouldn't get to keep either, no matter whose name they're in:
1) In all the years and with all the money--50 billion dollars, give or take--he took from people, he NEVER ONCE INVESTED ONE PENNY OF IT IN STOCKS OR ANY INVESTMENT TOOLS. Not once. The SEC, though they don't otherwise do their job, confirmed this much, anyway.
If he deliberately took this money, from the start, and never invested it, it seems pretty clear that his goal, right away, right from the start, was to scam people with a ponzi scheme. If that's the case, then everything he and his wife have is ill-gotten and should be returned to these scammed investors.
2) If you haven't read the list of people and organizations Bernie Madoff scammed, you should. (Link here: http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_madoff_victims_20081215.html) It's staggering.
Two brief examples:
He took $14,500,000.00 froom Yeshiva University in New York, alone. And that wasn't one of the largest amounts he took, by any means.
Can you imagine stealing from a Jewish University, even if you're NOT Jewish?
The second example is also particularly egregious, to me. He took $15,000.000.00 from The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
My God. He really had no shame at all.
The largest amount he took from one organization was a staggering 7 billion 500 million dollars (from Fairfield Greenwich Advisors).
One organization.
Those are just a few, brief examples from a very long list of people and groups from whom he stole.
And this is all staggering for three reasons.
One, the large amounts he took from people and organizations.
Two, the people and organizations he took this money from--big names, in the world and big philanthropists and philanthropic charities. He totally, absolutely showed no shame or mercy from whom he took money.
And finally, three, he had an incredible ability to take money from organizations--largely Jewish--that do, did and were doing such good, generous, philanthropic work. Again, he was shameless and exploited these people and organizations completely, totally, in some cases.
There are individuals and couples who have been destroyed, financially, because of him and his blatant, ugly, brazen theft.
So no. No sympathy or empathy for Bernard Madoff. That 62 million dollars in his wife's name now was never his. Neither was the 7 million dollar apartment in Manhattan. He got both by exploiting and exposing these people and groups completely, totally and utterly.
He should be shown the same mercy he showed his "investors", who trusted him.
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