For a moment yesterday it felt like things were getting back to
normal. A bulletin hit the wire saying that Dallas Maverick
owner Mark Cuban was being charged by the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission with insider trading. Even the stock
market went up for a good twenty minutes after the wire hit.
But it soon hit me right back - and it hit the market too - that
it was indeed the S.E.C. getting back to normal. And normalcy
has proven to be a disaster.
It was an immediate signal that instead of focusing on the
regulatory failings that have created a global catastrophe, the
S.E.C. was focusing on things that do not matter, relatively
speaking. People's lives are changing, mostly for the worst,
all around the world. Meanwhile, the S.E.C., instead of
having every one of its employees focused on how to restore
confidence and integrity back into the markets - was having another
Martha Stewart moment.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for years pretended
there was no naked short selling problem in our capital
markets. Indeed, they have been hardcore backers of a
short-term minded and thoughtless hedge fund industry that is now
collapsing and taking the world with it. And what does the
S.E.C. do about it now? How is it held accountable for the
years of providing little to no sufficient oversight over the
powerful, greedy and unethical? It does nothing - except file
a complaint against a celebrity millionaire on insider trading.
It would be funny if people were not losing their jobs, their
homes, and yes, even their lives. Developing countries who
depend on the world's support will see drastic cuts in charitable
contributions due to this economic meltdown. And why?
Because some millionaires and billionaires wanted to make more
money by any and all means, while the S.E.C., the Federal Reserve
and regulatory agencies purposefully looked away.
What a disgrace. And investors as a collective unit had
the same reaction yesterday: an immediate feeling of euphoria that
things were getting back to normal. And then we collectively
threw up a little in our mouths. Normal!?