<<freedom>>
hello maurice, last night i attended a gathering of about 100 bankers, lawyers, accountants, c-class officers of large global and regional companies, in the majority of either scottish or english extractions.
the congregation heard the speech of one gentleman of c-class status with a global-10 financial institution who had just faced down the usa senate at a hearing in washington on the subject of sarbane-oxley whatever moronic rules. interesting to note that the option-backdating was discovered long after sab-ox implementation, even though it could not possibly have been a secret.
the gathering was full of mirth, anticipating continuing capital outflow from the usa exchanges for friendlier domiciles, relishing the prospect of the big drain of good people, better money, and best of all prosperity as the moolah drains into london and hong kong, and perhaps even shanghai, but not tokyo (japanese do not invest in international equities even if traded in tokyo).
the speaker noted that every time anyone voices any doubt on the astuteness of sarbane-oxley rules, the good senator sarbane would read out loud small small pokey town newspaper that happened to have an editorial praising same, to enter into record.
the crowd at the evening gather laughed until tears welled up.
interestingly, during the question and answer session at the end of the speech, whenever anyone spoke negatively about the usa actions and reactions, and how it will come to no good, whether on the subject of laws, codes, foreign affairs, domestic stupidity, and traveling around the world without entering the usa space, the crowd, especially the scots, would go wild with approval, good cheer, derision, and again, mirth.
the speaker also noted what fantabulous enthusiasm there is in china to learn and apply good old fashioned corporate governance know-how. it appears that life is not altogether about where one is, but also about where one is headed.
it also appears that the empire has lost just about all respect, is the butt of the joke, doesn't even know it, and even in the august and conservative club that typifies of an ex-empire, that ought to know.
can the sensible scots be wrong?
recommendation: keep track of ipo volume and trading volume of the exchanges around the world, keep tab on the relative shifts over time, extrapolate via excel 123, so as to discover indicated TEOTWAWKI day.
chugs, j |
