Geithner just said "we need to take measures to be sure that terrorists can not use our financial system to fund..................." When have you ever heard a govie official take measures BEFORE something has already happened. They are reactionary on a good day. He is telling you what did happen, and pending indictments will tell you the rest.
Flytiger, don't tell me you're a fan of Tiny Tim Geithner, too? Geez, you're a Democrat? No more GE scalp trades for you, son. Zippo, nada, NONE.
"Tear Down the SEC!" Commentary in Forbes: Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Wall! Bill Singer 05.21.09, 04:00 PM EDT Nearly 22 years ago, on June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood before the Berlin Wall and delivered a stirring speech in which he said: "Mr. Gorbachev, please remove a few bricks from this wall and take down some posters and remove a dozen or so words of graffiti!" Not the way you recall those historic words? Not the way I recall them either. Sometimes--and they are often historic times--we are confronted with walls that need to be torn down. Not whitewashed. Not remodeled. Those walls may be brick and mortar, or they may be political barriers that separate peoples of the world. Or they may be regulatory institutions such as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which has outlived its usefulness and should be demolished to make way for much-needed reform and consumer protection. Recent press reports suggest the Federal Reserve and other agencies may be granted some powers presently reserved solely for the SEC. Moreover, there is talk of creating a brand new investor watchdog that will act as an overseer of the many financial products in our markets. A few bricks to be removed from the wall. A good start, but let's not stop there--someone get the sledgehammers and pile drivers. Not unexpectedly, the apologists and old guard have once again run to the defense of the SEC. We hear it would be a mistake to touch a single gray hair on the head of the venerable 75-year-old institution. Not only are the past glories trotted out to impress us, alas, we are once again asked to give a second, a third, a fourth chance for redemption. Trust the SEC, they say--weâll get it right this time. We promise. Are they serious? Haven't we all gone through hell these past couple of years and watched your assets get demolished as one Wall Street scandal after another fights for the day's headlines? Where was the SEC? Why didn't they detect anything that mattered? Why didn't they move quickly to stanch the flow of blood? Why do they seem most suited to push the broom at the end of the circus parade? And the litany against the SEC doesn't stop there. Internal politics hamstrung staff lawyers, like Gary Aguirre. Bureaucratic stupidity frustrated whistleblower Harry Markopolos. Now, we learn of two SEC enforcement attorneys facing possible insider-trading charges. How could those regulators have so much spare time on their hands that they could trade stocks while our economy was burning down? Where were their supervisors? Where were the internal policies to prevent such trading? It's as if everyone at the SEC simply went on vacation. Too bad no one hung a "Gone Fishin'" sign on the door to warn us. For me, the correct course of action is clear: Demolish the failed and failing SEC. Replace that regulator with more nimble and effective agencies. Install a consumer watchdog that will hold feet to the fire, cut through the in-fighting and topple the silos. Bottom line: What we now have in place has failed us. This calls for far more than plaster and whitewash. Mr. Obama, tear down the SEC! Bill Singer of BrokeAndBroker.com is a veteran regulatory lawyer; an outspoken critic of ineffective regulation and a staunch advocate for the rights of smaller firms, individual registered persons and defrauded investors. He regularly appears as a commentator on television and radio, and is frequently quoted in the press. http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/21/regulatory-commentary-bill-intelligent-investing-singer.html
So, we were talking about SEC attorneys, how "everybody" is doing it. Wanna know for how long? Elgindy's hayday was in the 90's through the early 2000's. Investigatethesec.com has some of his "transcripts" from his pay to play trading room. He makes a call where he says short a particular security, because the SEC is going to announce an investigation. This happened time and time again. Elgindy is in jail, as is Royer, the corrupt FBI agent. But no SEC people were ever tagged. Until now. This is from the latest SEC IG report (the new one. The only other IG in the history of the sec, a 20 year veteran resigned right after the Dec 2006 Gary Aguirre hearing at the Senate Judiciary Hearing). THis is from the current SEC IG report: Complaint Concerning Unauthorized Disclosure of Non-Public Information Obtained from a Commission Database The OIG is conducting an investigation into a complaint that two SEC Enforcement attorneys repeatedly, and in violation of agency policy, disclosed non-public information about SEC Enforcement investigations obtained from an internal SEC database. The information in question was allegedly disclosed to a corrupt FBI agent and short seller, who were subsequently tried and convicted of several criminal violations, including fraud, theft, racketeering and conspiracy in connection with a stock short selling operation. During the reporting period, an OIG investigator took sworn, onthe- record testimony of the two Enforcement attorneys who were accused of improperly divulging the non-public information. The OIG also obtained and reviewed the transcripts of the testimony these two attorneys provided at the criminal trial of the FBI agent and short seller. In addition, we requested and examined other documentation, including records showing what information these attorneys searched for in the internal SEC database. The OIG plans to finalize the investigation in the next reporting period. Now ask yourself. This net is cast. Obviously there is political demand and cooperation to get it this far. Who will it snare? I think I know. It just depends how far they go. But now, you can see why we're in the fix we're in. There was basically written law that was never enforced. There was huge pay for play, bribes, innuendo, fraud......... This doesn't end for a long, long time.