Comments on: Regulation Going Backwards

By: Mark E Hoffer

Mark E Hoffer — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:14:30 +0000

“Who would have ever thought the Dems would have picked up and endorsed the idealoge of the Republicans?”
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=The+Obama+Deception
and, “Fall Of The Republic (2009) – AKA: The Presidency of Barack H. Obama Alex Jones has revealed how the existing Obama regime intoxicating people with their misleading propaganda and consequently brainwashing them to accept oppression. He has revealed many of such tactics in his much-awaited documentary “Fall of the republic: the presidency of Barack Obama”
http://www.freemoviestheatre.com/free_movie/6577-Fall_Of_The_Republic_2009.html
http://astore.amazon.com/bookstore-elections-20/detail/0930852885

BG,

if your Q: wasn’t a rhetorical one, there are, above, some answers..

By: I cattivi vizi della finanza non sono andati persi | Banche, Risparmio, Investimenti e Trading

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:51:03 +0000

[...] dei mercati, un’esigenza tanto sottolineata da tutti, sembra in realtà lontana. Anzi, The Big Picture sottolinea come in realtà in USA sia in corso una “deregolamentazione occulta”, che [...]

By: photosports

photosports — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Is it any wonder that the administration is doing away with what little regulation there is. Larry Summers was one of the main characters that fought against the regulation of derivatives by the CFTC. And we still have anti-regulation Greenspan/Rand disciples all over the place in Treasury and the Fed. They even named a Greenspan disciple, economist of all things, to head up the regulation of banks. What the hell does an economist know about regulating banks.

By: BG

BG — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:33:22 +0000

This Country has returned again to human exploitation (slavery). We are captured tax-payers (many of us who still have jobs) who pay a portion of our earnings to an entity who has never cared less about our welfare or the welfare of this Country. Everyone knows what is now occurring is not sustainable; but, as usual no one with the power to change it gives a damn. So, here we are hurling through space badly off-course completely ignoring the consequences. This will end very badly for the United States and it will come at the hands of our own leaders not some foreign power. What a sad testament. These are the questions I am trying to get answered now before the ultimate storm hits:

1)What can we do? (A 3rd Party for the rest of us.)

2)If unsuccessful, where can we go? (What Countries offer what we use to have here?)

3)When does the day of reckoning come? (2012 does sound about right. A little over 2 years.)

I am very disappointed with what has already happened and the cavalier attitude of the very ones who got us into this mess in the first place. It is surreal. The next thing you know murder will no longer be a crime; of course, that would actually be a very good thing now that I think about it.

Lastly, I am amazed at how Obama has done a complete 180. Who would have ever thought the Dems would have picked up and endorsed the idealoge of the Republicans? They are all in fact the same – greedy, crooked politicians. That’s all you really need to know.

By: thales

thales — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:00:10 +0000

The big problem with government regulation is that it is enacted by politicians and administered by bureaucrats. Both of these coteries seek to maximize their authority, income, job security and bailout plan while simultaneously minimizing their responsibility and accountability. Oh yeah, they are susceptible to bribes, too. It should be quite clear to nearly everyone that they are accustomed to and very skilled at lying very cleverly.

So is anybody really surprised that the combination of bankers, financiers, lobbyists, politicians and bureaucrats has become a cabal that is accomplished at sacrificing the wealth, prosperity, and security of the American public and the health of the American economy in favor of their own self interest? (I couldn’t be talking about your favorite politician here, could I? I mean, even Obama?)

I might revisit the aphorism to the effect that; “Politics is the art of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and then convincing everybody that they’re Paul.”

The government and all of its regulatory agencies are simply and inevitably incapable of outthinking individual self interest, economic and social complexity, and the law of supply and demand, as has been thoroughly demonstrated in every single centrally planned economy that has ever existed. This is true even if you presuppose regulators who are unrealistically intelligent, responsible, and moral. This simple fact does not stop the politicians from proclaiming that THEY can save you from those evil, clever, manipulative miscreants in the financial industry.

If you have some intellectual difficulty with those propositions, then I have sympathy with you and I hope you get better soon.

So if you are looking to government to save you from adept economic manipulators ( OK, let’s call them thieves), then you are looking to the wolves to save you from the sheep.

By: CitizenWhy

CitizenWhy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:15:12 +0000

Your article has an inaccuracy. You use the term Obama administration. The proper term is Obama/Goldman Sachs administration.

By: crosey

crosey — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:24:59 +0000

Here’s a REALLY naive thought:

We would not need 80% of the regulations if people just did the moral and ethical thing. The other 20% of the regulations would be needed to help us keep from making serious, but honest, mistakes.

Nope, not smoking anything. Just dreaming.

By: davver1

davver1 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:04:00 +0000

I spend about 10-12 weeks a year dealing with SOX. All of the work I do as an actuary has to be SOX documented now.

SOX is probably one of the bigger wastes of time I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen a SOX regulation that I thought would prevent fraud. SOX merely requires us to document that we are doing what we say, it doesn’t do jack shit to validate if any of our methods are sound. For me I have to use my judgment to pick an appropriate pricing or reserving model as an actuary. SOX documentation merely makes me tie out every number I use to a few different sources. If the model I’ve chosen is completely inappropriate it does jack shit to prevent that.

I don’t know if AIG FP was SOX compliant, but I’m pretty damn sure they could have been anyway and still done what they did. The only thing SOX really seems to prevent, at least from my POV, is mid level managers embezzling. It does absolutely nothing to stop top level executives from committing “legal fraud” by simply picking a favorable model or accounting method, following it to a T, and then feigning ignorance when it blows up.

We are a giant company and have dozens of people employed to do SOX documentation along with an army of support personal. I can’t imagine the burden on a small business.

Sarbanes is the representative in my district and I vote against him every chance I get. Waste weeks of your live on this worthless stuff and you would too.

By: DSS10

DSS10 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:02:24 +0000

kfunck1, SOX is very weak and the procedures are burdensome but it is designed to incent a company to have some sort of internal controls. Unfortunately criminal and civil law dose not appropriately address the issue of fraud and negligence for corporate malfeasance.

By: kfunck1

kfunck1 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:45:31 +0000

As an accountant, I can tell you that pretty much every CPA I know thinks SOX is a complete waste of time and a terrible law. Sure, the auditors will take the money because they have to do it (and they aren’t complaining about that, don’t get me wrong), but SOX is next to useless in preventing fraud. It’s especially useless when a company like GE violates it, and all that happens is a measely 500M company fine, disclosed 2 years ex-post. This, of course, is what happens when you have politicians making accounting regulations.