I see your point, Rigel, but the thing that's always amazed me about the SEC is how they constantly badger the little guy (you can check the options threads - someone posted a clipping about the SEC nailing some clown for getting 8 grand for spoofing the options MM's) but let the exchanges and the institutions do whatever the hell they want, as long as they're not selling junk bonds to old ladies. Sure, you could say "that's because they only have the resources to chase the little guys," but the fact is that the SEC is currently OVERfunded from the bull market we just had. They have more cash than they know what to do with from the volume explosion of the 90's, when every tom, dick, and harry decided it would be fun to be a daytrader. That's why per share SEC fees were cut last year.
When do we get the probe of the SEC for turning a deaf ear and blind eye to the rampant and obvious frauds that went on for years?
this thread kind of touched upon the problem. But I think I know as my college roomate and good friend is an attoney with the SEC. He is a smart, honest guy and makes a good living by most standards but not by what he would get in the private sector. Now when he has finished his job with the SEC how is he going to make the big bucks. I know, hew will try to get a job with a large firm that does securities work. Who will be their clients. Who will be the investment bankers for those large clients. Now, why do we have a tort system that rewards the plaintiffs attorneys. Because they paid clinton and the dems. Why on earth are guys from goldman prominent democrats. b/c they paid the dems. why does anything get done in congress. b/c they paid whoever why was the sec doing nothing?
Let me tell you how stupid the SEC is. After 9-11, we got a call from the SEC about some long puts or short calls on an airline stock we did in August. This kid read me my rights and demanded no one was in the room during our phone interview. He was questioning two 1 lot trades, that we were flat on in a matter of minutes and had either scratched or lost a tick. He did not understand options, which way they had to go to profit, that he was investigating us for losing $5 or $10, what our position was, what black box trading was, etc.. That is how smart these guys are; and his supervisor was next to him passing him questions. After I gave him a little education, we offered to help them with their database, but they said they had the best people in the country working on it and definately did not need our help. And you wonder about these guys ...
One other point I forgot; the system is set up in such a way that you can not even sue them because the exchange is an SRO and as long as the SEC approves, i.e. "rubber stamps" their rules it falls into some obscure regulation that exempts them as long as they abide by the rule they are screwing you with.
.....Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt saw this issue differently. He believed consulting fees offer an unhealthy temptation to professional services firms that conduct certified audits, and during his tenure at the SEC, Levitt tried to introduce rules barring CPA firms from providing consulting services to their audit clients. Levitt's initiatives were met with a determined lobbying effort by the accounting industry. As Levitt told the New York Times on January 18, he received calls from 10 or 11 senators, warning him that if he did not relent on these regulations, the SEC's appropriations could be cut. "I have never been subjected to a more intensive and venal lobbying campaign," Levitt told the newspaper.... http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/013002_ss2.html As many have already mentioned: He who has the gold makes the rules, and all else is lip service to fool the public