USA Today -- previews of post crash testimony
Looks like the big shots are getting ready just in case there is a big meltdown ahead... So my concerns of a possible crash are not quite as isolated as I thought :-)
usatoday.com
NEW YORK - The Dow Jones industrial average is still above 10,000,
within 10% of its all-time high. Yet if you listen carefully, you can hear
witnesses practicing their testimony for congressional hearings into the
next market crash.
The 1990s bull market has gone so long and created so much wealth
that many veterans feel something must be wrong. Even before the bull
run ends, regulators, lawyers, accountants and scholars are talking about
possible reforms and pointing fingers. Some of their efforts are
well-meaning attempts to do their jobs and prevent trouble. Others are
probably self-serving statements to protect their reputations and shift
the blame for a crash to others . It is hard to separate the motivations.
Previews of post-crash testimony are airing in university conferences
and the speeches of Alan Greenspan and Arthur Levitt, chairmen of the
Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission, respectively.
Greenspan has been warning of irrational exuberance since December
1996.
Joshua Ronen, professor at New York University's Stern School, somewhat
inadvertently staged another preview here this week during a
roundtable of finance professionals discussing whether investors need
protection in speculative markets. The first position was staked out by
Jack Bogle, the retiring chairman of Vanguard Group, who attracted tens
of millions of individuals to the stock market by crusading for long-term
investing in Vanguard's index funds. Bogle charged that the market is
being lifted by "a happy conspiracy." Corporate officers use clever
accounting to report good earnings, while investors and analysts play
along. Investors have given up analysis for short-term speculating on
what others will buy. "We're all traders now," Bogle said.
[...]
Whether the bull dies in a day or over months, Wall Street and
Washington will hold post-mortems to assure wounded investors that
those to blame have been fingered and purged and that the market is
safe again. It is a self-sustaining process of American capitalism, one
already underway. |
