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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scion who wrote (11867)	7/16/2003 12:45:16 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19428

Investors Confidence In SEC Drops by Mike Fleming - Axcess News The Securities and Exchange Commission has stood fast in its practice of revealing nothing to the public while at the same time it may hold information that would potentially help Americans make more informed investment decisions. It may even be well reasoned that the SEC uses its power to hold back investigative information so that it does not have to actat all. The SEC's disinterest in conducting serious investigations and holding publicly traded companies accountable for violations has essentially created an economic storm that has been so severe as to push our seniors back into a workforce that is witnessing some of the highest unemployment numbers published in years. Some even offer that the SEC's silence insofar as corporate corruption cases are concerned is an issue of National Security. It is no secret that terrorism groups throughout the world have targeted the nations economy. Political science majors have long lost confidence in the government's role of regulating the publicly traded corporations with the absence of arrests and prosecutions of major Enron and Worldcom figures. To add insult to injury, Kenneth Lay walked away free. Meanwhile the government is spending millions of dollars to prosecute Martha Stewart whose crime was menial compared to what Lay, one the Bush Administration's top donors, reaped on small investors. A current example of the SEC's poor judgement can be found in the case of eBay, Inc. in relation to their subsidiary, PayPal. Consumers have filed literally hundreds of complaints to various state and federal agencies, including the SEC, over such issues as money market fraud, conflict of interest allegations, insurance fraud and unfair business practices that relate to banking (See, "eBay Facing Multiple Probes by State and Federal Regulators"). The SEC says that it takes such matters seriously, but the company is profiting at a rate that has astonished Wall Street and has an uncanny resemblance to that period preceding the Enron collapse in which investors held that stock in a valuable light. Enron's stock was virtually worthless overnight. And for good reason, the company was worthless many months before but hid much from the investment world with the assistance of the SEC's silence. Today insiders at eBay have been dumping stock at a record setting pace. There is troubling evidence that, time and again, the SEC has disregarded allegations of trouble on the exchange floor with the larger companies and consciously has ignored serious corporate misconduct which has sent the message to Wall Street that crime does in fact pay.

To: scion who wrote (11867)	7/19/2003 10:17:50 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

STATES BACK SPITZER By JENNY ANDERSON July 19, 2003 -- Local regulators fighting Baker's securities bill State securities regulators came out in force yesterday to join New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's battle against a bill that would limit their ability to fight securities fraud. All 50 states are lobbying their congressmen to voice their opposition to the bill, said four representatives of the state regulators. They also outlined examples of securities enforcement action their states have taken they wouldn't be able to take if the pending bill were enacted. "The ink is barely dry on all the stories about the recent run of fraud and investor abuse on Wall Street and the impact of all of that fraud on Main Street investors," said Christine Bruenn, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASSA). "As a securities regulator for 15 years, I'm at a loss to understand how anyone could even consider disarming the local cops on the SEC beat at this time." Congressman Richard Baker (R-La.), tacked the amendment - 8b - onto the Securities Fraud Deterrence Act to prevent state securities regulators from entering into voluntary agreements with securities firms that would reform their practices or address "conflicts of interest or disclosure issues." The bill is said to be headed for a full mark up by the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday morning. Supporters of the bill - including SEC Chairman William Donaldson and Senate Banking chair Richard Shelby - argue it does not curb state securities regulators from pursuing fraud. They say it would only prevent them from setting national market rules, arguing that the role of the states has led to a balkanization of securities regulation. "I'm restoring the SEC to the position of primacy, allowing state regulators to pursue who they see fit," Baker said on CNBC earlier this week. "The states can keep the money but they cannot write national security laws." State securities regulators took issue with that characterization. "The states investigate and bring enforcement actions," said Bruenn. "We don't engage in rule making for the national marketplace. We believe that is rightly the purview of the SEC and the SROs." Bruenn said there are two "myths" being perpetuated by the bill: there has been a "balkanization" of securities enforcement and the bill does not limit state securities regulators. "As amended, 8b [the amendment] goes too far," said Joe Borg, state securities regulator from Alabama. "It prevents us from taking action in conflicts of interest and disclosure areas - and this is the heart and soul of investor protection issues." Notably absent from the state regulators' conference call was Spitzer, who initiated the fight against the proposed bill. Bruenn said that was no accident. "I don't agree with everything Eliot Spitzer does and he doesn't agree with everything we do," said Bruenn, noting that Spitzer is an elected Democrat. "We're non-partisan, and I represent both Republicans and Democrats." A spokesman for Spitzer said he supported NASAA's effort. "If all we can do is fine a securities firm, it just becomes the cost of doing business," added Alabama's Borg.