Wonderful analysis! I thought the same things as I read it and was going to sit down and type it out for a post. I see I don't have to, - you covered it all perfectly.
I am myself embedded in a similar large organization where the same kind of simplistic, spin-doctored, pollyannish nonsense is regularly fed to senior managers because they are incompetent to understand what their middle level managers are talking about. If it wasn't so pitiful, it would be funny. Such managers insist on knowing only the top 3 points of a complex and multi-faceted issue, they buy into the latest management theories from each trip to the airport bookstore, and their desks are as proudly empty as their minds. Unfortunately these incompetents will exit with high salaries over many years in the bank(I hope it's one that fails) while the rest of us are left to clean up the mess, and sometimes even shoulder the blame. Sorry to be so sharp tongued about it, but I not only hope to make a few dollars investing in the problem through GPW, but I hope also to mitigate some of the damage by working hard to update my own systems.
Political Chairmen, like the BMO's, stupidly get in the way of doing a good job of getting fixes in place, and we can ill-afford the time and energy to have to push these guys out of the way to get the job done. At a recent legal convention in the USA, attorneys were slavering over the possibility of as much as a TRILLION dollars in legal fees arising out of Y2K malfeasance and fraud. Normally, I have a hard time supporting lawyers, but in this case, I hope they go after these guys personally. It doesn't appear the BMO chairman even realizes that, in Canada, as opposed to the USA, a board member can be held personally responsible for the losses of his company if malfeasance or simple negligence is proven. In the case of Y2K, the proving should be easy, the evidence is everywhere and has been for at least 18months.
I don't think the BOM's statement will cause any negatives at all for our stock price, but it may increase the false sense of security of the Canadian public in general, and that's a real pity IMO.
I hope someone invites this guy to the G8 conference in London next month, and Dr. Ed Yardeni(? I hear he will speak there) gets a piece of him! In public, on a talk show perhaps. . . . where he can't escape into bafflegab and obfuscation.
p.s. AH, I liked your posting style too, . . . very original and effective. Thank you for doing all the hard work.
Murray |
