....lybob Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 My link It's easier to be a financial genius when you're getting the answers before hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACor58 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Read this book and let your blood boil.... http://www.amazon.com/Throw-Them-All-Peter-Schweizer/dp/0547573146/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324476576&sr=8-1 There is a reason why the tax rate on Capital gains will always be lower than the standard brackets, and it's because the scumbag piece of ***** in Washinghton are some of the biggest benefactors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 (edited) And yet 90+% of Congress will get re-elected again next year while people continue to scream about Wall Street. Hell, even this thread title reveals the ongoing mentality of 'Wall Street bad' while giving the real criminals in Congress a pass. "HEDGE FUNDS getting stock tips from Congress!" It's as though it's only a problem because the stock tips are going to hedge funds! Edited December 21, 2011 by KD in CT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 If elected Washington had to live by 50% of the rules that govern the financial services industry ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 If elected Washington had to live by 50% of the rules that govern the financial services industry ... True but also If the financial services industry had to live by 50% of the rules that govern the financial services industry.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 (edited) True but also If the financial services industry had to live by 50% of the rules that govern the financial services industry.... Hate to break it to you, but the financial industry lives by 100% of the rules. You may not like it, but that's the reality. If you don't like it, change the rules. Edited December 21, 2011 by GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 True but also If the financial services industry had to live by 50% of the rules that govern the financial services industry.... You have no !@#$ing clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdnlng Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Typical lyrbob, commenting on a subject when his knowledge of it most likely doesn't extend past one of his 10 minute youtube videos, made by the Bill Nye of the financial industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RkFast Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Hate to break it to you, but the financial industry lives by 100% of the rules. You may not like it, but that's the reality. If you don't like it, change the rules. If that were true, then all those middle people wouldnt be screwed over by all those banskters. And stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meazza Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 If that were true, then all those middle people wouldnt be screwed over by all those banskters. And stuff. It's true, I saw it in Inside job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPS Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I guess it's time for all of the financial industry workers to white wash the past... Oh, no really, it's the poors' fault for taking loans they never should have...sheesh! Every financial crisis in history is littered with fraudulent activity. These guys simply bought protection from the mob in DC. I guess they learned their lesson and are now playing by the rules, right MF Global? The system at the top is corrupt. Rant over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 The New York Times recently investigated the ways the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deals with companies who have violated anti-fraud laws. Very often, the settlement that follows contains a promise not to break the law again, which the Times noted is odd because the company, "after all, was merely promising not to do something that the law already forbids." Often the same corporations violate the law again -- and make the same promise again and again.The Times found 51 cases over the past 15 years in which 19 Wall Street firms broke anti-fraud laws they had promised not to break. These firms include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. When faced with these multiple violations, the SEC simply reaches another settlement and extracts another promise, rather than bring a contempt charge in court. Furthermore, these settlements do not even require the companies to admit to the charges brought against them. Instead, there is a provision that lets them "neither admit nor deny" the violations, which makes them less vulnerable to investor lawsuits. Amitai Etzioni Shortly after the Times article appeared, the Washington Post reported that the SEC agreed to collect $285 million as a penalty for a $700 million loss to investors due to fraud committed by Citigroup, and again allowed Citigroup to cop the "neither admit nor deny" clause. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected the settlement as too weak, joining others who criticized the SEC as toothless, saying it gives a pass to executives and allows corporations to conceal that they violated the law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 So 51 cases in 15 years involving 19 firms brings you to the conclusion that the financial services industry doesn't follow the rules? I blame the SEC more than I blame Wall Street. The rules are in place. Enforce them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I guess it's time for all of the financial industry workers to white wash the past... Oh, no really, it's the poors' fault for taking loans they never should have...sheesh! Every financial crisis in history is littered with fraudulent activity. These guys simply bought protection from the mob in DC. I guess they learned their lesson and are now playing by the rules, right MF Global? The system at the top is corrupt. Rant over. Yet despite the volume, countless investigations, bombastic press conferences by that tough talking Wall Street beat cop Elliott Spitzer and a handful of others, there have been exactly how many criminal convictions? You can crow all you want about the corruptioin in the system, yet for people who actually do this for a living and understand it, it's kind of laughable. Again, don't blame the financial industry for the fact that people who write the laws don't understand what they're doing. If you want proof, just look at any of the CSPAN tapes of congressional hearings during any of the recent financial crises. Lawmakers get plenty of air time for "fixing" the causes of the last crisis, while ignoring the risk of the next crisis. It's not like we're supposed to take a leap of faith to know that a comedian whose last funny line was in 1986 knows how to regulate the financial industry. And to ..booby's gems from NYT & Wash Post - so what? The only reason the SEC settles is that it knows that if the cases go to trial (just like all of Spitzer's bombasts) the agency would lose, because the laws were not broken. You may not like the Wall Street behavior & ethos, but it's not illegal to be an arrogant prick who uses established rules to earn a lot of money in unsavory ways. I could also apply that description to half of Hollywood. Where's the Congressional oversight on that blight of American industry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Large Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Yet despite the volume, countless investigations, bombastic press conferences by that tough talking Wall Street beat cop Elliott Spitzer and a handful of others, there have been exactly how many criminal convictions? You can crow all you want about the corruptioin in the system, yet for people who actually do this for a living and understand it, it's kind of laughable. Again, don't blame the financial industry for the fact that people who write the laws don't understand what they're doing. If you want proof, just look at any of the CSPAN tapes of congressional hearings during any of the recent financial crises. Lawmakers get plenty of air time for "fixing" the causes of the last crisis, while ignoring the risk of the next crisis. It's not like we're supposed to take a leap of faith to know that a comedian whose last funny line was in 1986 knows how to regulate the financial industry. And to ..booby's gems from NYT & Wash Post - so what? The only reason the SEC settles is that it knows that if the cases go to trial (just like all of Spitzer's bombasts) the agency would lose, because the laws were not broken. You may not like the Wall Street behavior & ethos, but it's not illegal to be an arrogant prick who uses established rules to earn a lot of money in unsavory ways. I could also apply that description to half of Hollywood. Where's the Congressional oversight on that blight of American industry? I remember when Hollywood almost brought the financial system to the brink of disaster.... that was crazy... On a serious note, if people don't like the Financal Services sector, don't buy into it. If you want to invest in something that is pretty clean, stable and has historically for centuries been reliable... buy property.... it always has value, it rarely vanishes in an instant, it tends to be stable, and even a moron can buy a apartment complex, pay it off and make money in perpituity... Financial sevices is a big black hole I don't really understand, other than basic mortgage products. So other than a 100% match in my 403B, I put no more money into it... I buy property... I get it, understand it, know how it makes money, I can see the roof need repair and do it... most people love to whine.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Yet despite the volume, countless investigations, bombastic press conferences by that tough talking Wall Street beat cop Elliott Spitzer and a handful of others, there have been exactly how many criminal convictions? You can crow all you want about the corruptioin in the system, yet for people who actually do this for a living and understand it, it's kind of laughable. Again, don't blame the financial industry for the fact that people who write the laws don't understand what they're doing. If you want proof, just look at any of the CSPAN tapes of congressional hearings during any of the recent financial crises. Lawmakers get plenty of air time for "fixing" the causes of the last crisis, while ignoring the risk of the next crisis. It's not like we're supposed to take a leap of faith to know that a comedian whose last funny line was in 1986 knows how to regulate the financial industry. And to ..booby's gems from NYT & Wash Post - so what? The only reason the SEC settles is that it knows that if the cases go to trial (just like all of Spitzer's bombasts) the agency would lose, because the laws were not broken. You may not like the Wall Street behavior & ethos, but it's not illegal to be an arrogant prick who uses established rules to earn a lot of money in unsavory ways. I could also apply that description to half of Hollywood. Where's the Congressional oversight on that blight of American industry? I like the defense - sure we are unethical pricks who'd swindle you in a New York second but hey nothing we do is illegal because we own congress and we send our boys to write the actual law, and if we still want to break the few rules left no problem we've captured or defunded and destaffed the regulators, and after all that we have a army of lawyers that makes it too hard to bring us to trial. Federal authorities investigating the collapse of MF Global have uncovered e-mails that detail the transfers of money in the firm’s last days, including transfers that contained customer money, according to people close to the investigation. One e-mail chain refers to the transfer of roughly $200 million that MF Global owed JPMorgan Chase on Oct. 28 — the firm’s last business day before it filed for bankruptcy. In that chain, a senior official in the firm’s Chicago office was told to make the transfer, said the people close to the investigation who requested anonymity because the inquiry was still open. The transfer to JPMorgan was not the only questionable one. Investigators suspect that later on Oct. 28, MF Global continued using customer money to settle payments with trading partners and others, leading to the roughly $1 billion hole in customer cash. As the system collapses I can't wait until the big fish start eating the little fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I like the defense - sure we are unethical pricks who'd swindle you in a New York second but hey nothing we do is illegal because we own congress and we send our boys to write the actual law, and if we still want to break the few rules left no problem we've captured or defunded and destaffed the regulators, and after all that we have a army of lawyers that makes it too hard to bring us to trial. Because people commit murders does that mean that all of humankind is nothing but a bunch of murderous bastards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPS Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 So 51 cases in 15 years involving 19 firms brings you to the conclusion that the financial services industry doesn't follow the rules? I blame the SEC more than I blame Wall Street. The rules are in place. Enforce them. The top positions at the SEC are held by those who come from the industry, appointed by respective presidents, and they are going to go after their peers? Right...don't bite the hand that will soon feed you again... Almost all federal regulatory agencies have been coopted by the industries they regulate. As for the fraud, here's a good piece by former regulator Bill Black who prosecuted a number of cases from the S&L fraud in the 1980s. Bill Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Because people commit murders does that mean that all of humankind is nothing but a bunch of murderous bastards? The difference is most people who don't commit murder don't view murder as just part of the system of society, they don't defended it and they'd report it if they saw it, they expect it to be investigated and the guilty parties brought to justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 The difference is most people who don't commit murder don't view murder as just part of the system of society, they don't defended it and they'd report it if they saw it, they expect it to be investigated and the guilty parties brought to justice. And in the countless investigations by SEC, state AGs (who do not come from industry), FBI and others, there have been very little convictions. It's always great to scapegoat the financial industry because they're easy targets. Yet, in my 25 yr career, I've run across much more unethical and criminal behavior outside financial services than inside it. But why believe that when you have the great defenders of the little guy in NYT & WP (btw, where were these reporters from 2001 to 2007 when the bubble was building and the bankers running amok?) Funny criticism coming from a fan of a football team that has a history of employing felons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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