There is something about FINRA

There is something about FINRA;seems the same people who failed ot protect the public didn't know Bernie Maddoff was crook,or some would say failed to act when everyone knew Bernie Maddoff was a crook ,the very same people who through their policies of no money down easy credit created a global melt down are now claiming to give "unbiased stock advice" on their website? Am I the only one that see the irony in this?

As my grandmother used to say ." I would never buy a used car from that guy" and although I may let my daughter date a Rolling Stone ,I would never take stock advice from an administration that has failed in every single policy initiative it has mistakenly put forth.

Seriously folks getting the IRS to do your taxes seems a far less risk ,than listening to a government agency about something so complex like investing. After all the IRS is billed as the most efficient tax collection agency in the world ! While the SEC is on the cusp of being folded into a super regulatory agency and if anything has completely failed in its mission of protecting the investor class.

Comparing Bernie Madoff to over paid banking execs is beyond ridiculous!

What continues to amaze me is how little the talking heads in the main stream media seem to understand about capital markets. The silly argument of comparing Bernie Madoff to over paid banking execs is beyond ridiculous! The over paid execs in many cases are more a kin to a superstar baseball player having a bad year or not living up to his superstar status. Yes there are exceptions giving the 70’s generations inability to produce anyone of substance and having the necessary leadership qualities. Don’t forget there is also corporate America’s propensity to reward “ass kissing” instead of creativity and hard work. Contrary to popular belief the capital markets are one of the most over regulated industries on earth. One look at Sarbanes Oxley or any of the million SEC directives and one would instantly understand what I am talking about.So you ask once again you ask how did Bernie commit such a vast criminal conspiracy?

While much of the mainstream media is concentrating on weather his family was duplicitous or not and yes of coarse many of them were. The real issue is and remains are what the hell were the SEC and all the regulatory bodies thinking? Recounts of his operation show numerous instances where even the smallest and simplest securities regulation was being violated. Over the years there had been numerous complaints made against him and his operations that went unheeded by authorities.

One can only conclude by this that many people both aided and abetted Bernie over the years or at lest remained hands off for reasons unknown. My point being that it was obvious for a long time that he was doing something wrong, very wrong. No one could pull off a scam of this magnitude by themselves.

To make matters worse the very same people that refused to investigate Bernie are the same people in charge of running, some say destroying the banking system. Once again I will repeat, if you destroy the capital markets then people will become ever more dependent on big government for security.

Connections, political donations and cocktail parties

So yes I have sold my practice, retired and a lot of you have voiced concern about weather I will continue with this blog. The answer is a resounding yes and I am going to start with a little story about Bernie Maddoff. As you know I have for most of this decade warned many of you that these financial wrong doings are never the solitary acts that the media and the industry want you to think they are. What we have with the Bernie Maddoff scandal is another example of how the rules that the rest of us go by don’t seem to apply to certain people. Connections, political donations and cocktail parties as for most of this decade seem to out way professionalism and ethics. Wall Street in recent years has become a business where the customer’s money has become the firm’s money to do with as they see fit. Don’t blame your local broker he or she is subject to the most stringent rules and requirements imangable but understand that people like Bernie operate outside those legal requirements that you and I are often subject too.

I only know what I read but misgiving about Mr. Maddoff surfaced as far back as the 1970's and a fairly large amount of suspicsion has been build up that last 12 years! Yes that’s right heavy dought has been cast more than once in the last 12 years . Now Mr. Maddoff made off to a tune of 50 billion yes that’s BILLION , about double what the auto industry was bailed out for. Seems his operation didn’t pass the small test more than once, yet when notified the regulators sat on there hands or seemed unwilling to take on the challenge.

So here I will interject some of my own personal musings and many of you who know me personally will find this somewhat ironic. As it became clearer and clearer that I needed a change I began to shop around for a new clearing and compliance arrangement. One firm that shall remain nameless seemed like a pretty good fit to me but upon discussion they seem to have problem, not with this blog but with my other blog,"the Ridgewood blog”. A blog in which soccer moms and dads argue as to the nuances of turf fields, math programs and the finer points of pedestrian etiquette while crossing the local streets. The very day the Madoff story broke and it became know that the likes of Eli Wisel, Yeshiva University and NYU had all fallen prey to this scoundrel to the combined tune of say 80 million .I was being blown off by a firm that was worried about negative fall out from the Ridgewood blog? And that my friends was the as they say the straw that broke the camels back and told me once and for all it was time to step aside and search for new ventures.

The moral to the story is that it appears that the regulators and the industry have consistently protected themselves and defend their unaccountability at the detriment to the investor class, while the investor is left with these words to the wise "if your over 18 everything I say to you could be a lie ".

and yes there will be a lot more to say on this subject for the next couple of weeks while the biggest scandal in US financial history unfolds.