Hi kb,
Well, I don't quite feel the same way about Milken and DBL as you do. While the junk bond market was useful for starting some shops like McCaw Cellular in the white hat phase, by the time the Predator's Balls were in full swing, the operation had clearly become dysfunctional for corporate America. As well as for thousands of honest American workers who had their pensions looted by the contrivances of DBL. I do not regret their passing. I find that viewed from the point of view of the greatest good for the greatest number, that DBL was an enemy of America.
Re: The securities industry year after year engages individually, by company and en masse in sins of comission and omission which are much more serious than the stuff Milken and Drexel got nailed for. The result, fines, wrist slaps and nolo contenderes. It's a private club up there in the stratosphere, no doubt about it.
I'm in total agreement with you here. The more I've learned about the financial markets since I've retired from my contracting business, the more I've come to loathe the industry for its chicanery, deception and self-serving manipulations.
Re: I tried to sniff around to find out how folks like ENE trade with each other and found no real good information.
I found this news item on Apache Corp.'s Raymond Plank to be reassuring that the entire oil & gas industry hasn't been hijacked by jerks like Ken Lay:
tscquote.thestreet.com
BTW, is anyone investigating why it is that this thug, Lay, is using Cayman Island partnerships to hide assets? What kind of a White House do we have that has this sort of cretin for a main campaign supporter? I'm a patriot, and I'm very concerned about the loyalty of the likes of Ken Lay to our nation. Frankly, I fear Lay more than I do Bin Laden. He's far more subversive and corrosive to the American dream.
Please don't misunderstand my interest in ENE. I couldn't care less about its death throes as a stock trade. I am fascinated by the prospect that we may finally come around to understanding that ENE's unfettered trading philosophy is a ridiculous way to try to run a modern economy. Though I'm not holding my breath.
Salaams, Ray |
