OT Haim, since SEC officials are generally probably hoping to land cushy WS jobs for themselves eventually, it is no wonder da boyz get away with slaps on the wrist at best (or at worst, depending on one's PoV).
see the fine Morgan Stanley had to pay for allegedly posting false bid/asks on NAZ stocks for YEARS in order to manipulate the market..$500K. that's nothing...they probably made a multiple of that due to their manipulation.
also remember the job LEH did with VERT? put out a 'strong buy' right at the all time high, and sold its entire position in the days following the upgrade. look at the stock now, LOL!
LEH's comment was that their research and proprietary trading divisions were working 'at arm's length' from each other. yeah, right. that sounds about as plausible as the falling energy prices in the last cpi.
WS is a rape and pillage enterprise, and in recent years it has in addition to that degenerated into an entertainment business of sorts.
if you think the Fed (creator of the bubble) or the SEC (aiding and abetting as far as i can tell, although Levitt seems decent enough) will get into gear, think again...
but what does it matter really? as long as a few crumbs fall off the table for us, i'm trying not to get too worked up about it. especially since i know deep down that the moment of catharsis will inevitably come...all pyramid schemes, no matter how ingeniously conceived, collapse eventually.
regards,
hb |
