Post by saturn48021 on May 22, 2005 10:54:31 GMT -5
Stockgate Today. . . Author: proeag Sentiment:
By: moneytreegrows7
22 May 2005, 11:03 AM EDT
Msg. 217237 of 217245
Jump to msg. #
“Government for the People”; But which People?
STOCKGATE TODAY, May 21, 2005
An online newspaper reporting the issues of Securities Fraud
“Government for the People”; But which People?
David Patch
It is time our elected Government Officials take a step back into the history books and re-educate themselves on the values our fore fathers expected of them. The wisdom behind these past great men and what they chose to accomplish would be a lesson our present Government could learn from.
Last Summer I spent time in Washington DC and walked the streets of our Nations Capital showing my children the monuments dedicated to great men and women. But it was not the physical monuments that necessarily moved you; it was the words etched in the stone throughout those monuments. The words of wisdom and leadership that came from a vision far lost upon today’s elected Officials.
“That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” Gettysburg Address; Abraham Lincoln November 1863.
But today our Government is in an ethical conflict over who “the people” are. We “the people” do not stand here as equals but instead as rated constituents. Rated on what value we can bring to each elected official. Rated on the financial value to their next re-election. As we have in our tax system, so have we in our rights to equal protection under the law – a tiered system. Equal does not really mean – Equal. To Congress we come with a scale factor attached with money weighing heavily on that scale. To be heard and listened to there must be a financial factor attached. “The people” have less to say and to know than “the wealthy.” Wealth brings power regardless of how that wealth was achieved.
This is not new to me. Everyone knows our Elected Officials are as much about politics, self-preservation, and overvalued Government pensions as they are about “the people.” There are times, however, when we need to be reminded of how astray these elected officials have gone. For me, that time to remind all is now.
Recently I was made aware of a conflict taking place within the Senate Banking Committee over the issue of naked shorting and the SEC’s recently enacted Regulation SHO. The conflict is over whether to challenge the perceived failures of the newly formed regulation, and to possibly put a financial burden on the very Wall Street firms who have abused the system and the millions of investors in the system, or to simply walk away from the issue knowing that the collateral damage to the fraud, while part of “the people”, cannot hurt you politically.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, along with Wall Street, is placing considerable pressure on the Banking Committee to look the other way. Let the SEC handle the fraudulent acts of the past in their own manner. That manner is Regulation SHO, which illegally pardons previous illegal trading acts and allows the criminals to cover these illegal trades over extended periods in time to preserve their financial profitability. It allows Wall Street to “cook the books “of our accounts and to mail us false and misleading account statements to hide from the fraud they have perpetrated upon us.
Why is Regulation SHO illegal? Easy! SHO is in direct violation of Section 17A of the Securities Act of 1934. The Securities Act being the bylaws handed down by former sessions of Congress to the SEC. Congressional Leaders with a vision and guidance now lost in the present administration. Laws the present members of Congress are obligated to uphold or to change. Not laws they can simply ignore.
Members of the Senate Banking Committee have seen evidence of the fraud. Have seen transcripts of recorded conference calls whereby Wall Street admits to being told by the very regulators that they were in violation of securities laws for years without any regulatory enforcement taking place. And the members of the Senate Banking Committee have been provided the evidence that the Securities and Exchange Commission purposely misled one of their members when queried about the naked shorting issue. Martha Stewart’s misleading statements landed her in jail. Not here when there is money at stake.
The Senate Banking Committee has the evidence of which side is right or wrong. It should make their response easy.
But with the evidence of the magnitude of the abuse in hand, the members remain conflicted over what to do. To people close to the situation the answer right now is that the members of the Committee plan on putting on their blinders until the media embarrasses them into action. It is a risk vs. reward gamble being played out in the Committee. If the lesser people cannot muster enough publicity, the reward to the members will remain generous. If the people do get the message out, the members run the risk of being thrown out in their next re-election. A risk vs. reward gamble they so far are willing to take.
Andrew Jackson once stated “The courage to stand up and be heard, the courage to not be daunted by peer pressure and public opinion … the courage to stand up for the ideals and values upon which America was built, even if it means you stand alone.”
“One man with courage makes a majority.”
Does the Senate Banking Committee contain such a Senator? Is there a leader amongst them that took their oath literally and understands that “the people” are more than simply those that pay for re-elections and free trips but are also those people who suffer at the hands of the very people who finance those campaigns? Is there a Senator with the proper ideals and values that go far beyond personal wealth and power? A Senator with courage!
It was past sessions of Congress who created the Securities Act of 1934 as it was done with consideration of all facts available at that time. But it also required people with vision. People with the intelligence to know what perils lie ahead.
This Congress, and the Senate Banking Committee specifically, is willing to ignore the wisdom and the laws presented by their predecessors to protect the very criminal acts their predecessors feared could happen. They have failed their predecessors by ignoring the vision for reasons beyond those that are justified. This Congress places the rights of the powerful over the rights of “the people.”
I will leave you with a simple transcript. One I frequently use in my editorials. This is a transcript that begs the question of right vs. wrong. It challenges the ethics and integrity of all that have the obligation to get to the root of what this person is stating. This is a transcript of a major Wall Street firm and a conference call they held in December 2004 for members and clients regarding Regulation SHO. It begs for a person of courage to come out and become that majority. To seek the answers to the questions so many have been avoiding.
The introduction to the conference:
“To give you that brief introduction in Reg SHO, the history how we got to where we are today. For the past several years we have been hearing from many different regulators regarding their concerns about the increase in the level of fails that they are seeing. They believe, and they have stated on numerous occasions, that one of the primary causes of the high level of fails was that various participants in the short sale process, prime brokers, executing brokers, clients, were not following already established rules.”
Now consider this: Every major market reform of recent times has had public hearings held by both the House and the Senate. Most having hearings more than once. Regulation SHO, on the other hand, was quietly released into the public and yet this reform was quoted as being the most sweeping reform to short selling rules in sixty years. It was a reform to address fraud that was being seen in our Securities markets. It is also the reform that has generated the most retail investor backlash as the truly injured parties. No Wall Street or political backlash as has been the case with the others; this one has “the people” crying foul and is the only one that is not being heard for the people.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”.
The members of this Congress need to be reminded of what our fore fathers envisioned. They need to re-acquaint themselves with the great visionaries of our past and to walk through the monuments of this nation and read the wisdom and courage that once came from a less conflicted government.
This Congress needs to be reminded of the basics of why they are there. The oath they took to protect all.
For more on this issue please visit the Host site at www.investigatethesec.com .
- - - - -
< EOM >
Posted
Saturn
By: moneytreegrows7
22 May 2005, 11:03 AM EDT
Msg. 217237 of 217245
Jump to msg. #
“Government for the People”; But which People?
STOCKGATE TODAY, May 21, 2005
An online newspaper reporting the issues of Securities Fraud
“Government for the People”; But which People?
David Patch
It is time our elected Government Officials take a step back into the history books and re-educate themselves on the values our fore fathers expected of them. The wisdom behind these past great men and what they chose to accomplish would be a lesson our present Government could learn from.
Last Summer I spent time in Washington DC and walked the streets of our Nations Capital showing my children the monuments dedicated to great men and women. But it was not the physical monuments that necessarily moved you; it was the words etched in the stone throughout those monuments. The words of wisdom and leadership that came from a vision far lost upon today’s elected Officials.
“That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” Gettysburg Address; Abraham Lincoln November 1863.
But today our Government is in an ethical conflict over who “the people” are. We “the people” do not stand here as equals but instead as rated constituents. Rated on what value we can bring to each elected official. Rated on the financial value to their next re-election. As we have in our tax system, so have we in our rights to equal protection under the law – a tiered system. Equal does not really mean – Equal. To Congress we come with a scale factor attached with money weighing heavily on that scale. To be heard and listened to there must be a financial factor attached. “The people” have less to say and to know than “the wealthy.” Wealth brings power regardless of how that wealth was achieved.
This is not new to me. Everyone knows our Elected Officials are as much about politics, self-preservation, and overvalued Government pensions as they are about “the people.” There are times, however, when we need to be reminded of how astray these elected officials have gone. For me, that time to remind all is now.
Recently I was made aware of a conflict taking place within the Senate Banking Committee over the issue of naked shorting and the SEC’s recently enacted Regulation SHO. The conflict is over whether to challenge the perceived failures of the newly formed regulation, and to possibly put a financial burden on the very Wall Street firms who have abused the system and the millions of investors in the system, or to simply walk away from the issue knowing that the collateral damage to the fraud, while part of “the people”, cannot hurt you politically.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, along with Wall Street, is placing considerable pressure on the Banking Committee to look the other way. Let the SEC handle the fraudulent acts of the past in their own manner. That manner is Regulation SHO, which illegally pardons previous illegal trading acts and allows the criminals to cover these illegal trades over extended periods in time to preserve their financial profitability. It allows Wall Street to “cook the books “of our accounts and to mail us false and misleading account statements to hide from the fraud they have perpetrated upon us.
Why is Regulation SHO illegal? Easy! SHO is in direct violation of Section 17A of the Securities Act of 1934. The Securities Act being the bylaws handed down by former sessions of Congress to the SEC. Congressional Leaders with a vision and guidance now lost in the present administration. Laws the present members of Congress are obligated to uphold or to change. Not laws they can simply ignore.
Members of the Senate Banking Committee have seen evidence of the fraud. Have seen transcripts of recorded conference calls whereby Wall Street admits to being told by the very regulators that they were in violation of securities laws for years without any regulatory enforcement taking place. And the members of the Senate Banking Committee have been provided the evidence that the Securities and Exchange Commission purposely misled one of their members when queried about the naked shorting issue. Martha Stewart’s misleading statements landed her in jail. Not here when there is money at stake.
The Senate Banking Committee has the evidence of which side is right or wrong. It should make their response easy.
But with the evidence of the magnitude of the abuse in hand, the members remain conflicted over what to do. To people close to the situation the answer right now is that the members of the Committee plan on putting on their blinders until the media embarrasses them into action. It is a risk vs. reward gamble being played out in the Committee. If the lesser people cannot muster enough publicity, the reward to the members will remain generous. If the people do get the message out, the members run the risk of being thrown out in their next re-election. A risk vs. reward gamble they so far are willing to take.
Andrew Jackson once stated “The courage to stand up and be heard, the courage to not be daunted by peer pressure and public opinion … the courage to stand up for the ideals and values upon which America was built, even if it means you stand alone.”
“One man with courage makes a majority.”
Does the Senate Banking Committee contain such a Senator? Is there a leader amongst them that took their oath literally and understands that “the people” are more than simply those that pay for re-elections and free trips but are also those people who suffer at the hands of the very people who finance those campaigns? Is there a Senator with the proper ideals and values that go far beyond personal wealth and power? A Senator with courage!
It was past sessions of Congress who created the Securities Act of 1934 as it was done with consideration of all facts available at that time. But it also required people with vision. People with the intelligence to know what perils lie ahead.
This Congress, and the Senate Banking Committee specifically, is willing to ignore the wisdom and the laws presented by their predecessors to protect the very criminal acts their predecessors feared could happen. They have failed their predecessors by ignoring the vision for reasons beyond those that are justified. This Congress places the rights of the powerful over the rights of “the people.”
I will leave you with a simple transcript. One I frequently use in my editorials. This is a transcript that begs the question of right vs. wrong. It challenges the ethics and integrity of all that have the obligation to get to the root of what this person is stating. This is a transcript of a major Wall Street firm and a conference call they held in December 2004 for members and clients regarding Regulation SHO. It begs for a person of courage to come out and become that majority. To seek the answers to the questions so many have been avoiding.
The introduction to the conference:
“To give you that brief introduction in Reg SHO, the history how we got to where we are today. For the past several years we have been hearing from many different regulators regarding their concerns about the increase in the level of fails that they are seeing. They believe, and they have stated on numerous occasions, that one of the primary causes of the high level of fails was that various participants in the short sale process, prime brokers, executing brokers, clients, were not following already established rules.”
Now consider this: Every major market reform of recent times has had public hearings held by both the House and the Senate. Most having hearings more than once. Regulation SHO, on the other hand, was quietly released into the public and yet this reform was quoted as being the most sweeping reform to short selling rules in sixty years. It was a reform to address fraud that was being seen in our Securities markets. It is also the reform that has generated the most retail investor backlash as the truly injured parties. No Wall Street or political backlash as has been the case with the others; this one has “the people” crying foul and is the only one that is not being heard for the people.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”.
The members of this Congress need to be reminded of what our fore fathers envisioned. They need to re-acquaint themselves with the great visionaries of our past and to walk through the monuments of this nation and read the wisdom and courage that once came from a less conflicted government.
This Congress needs to be reminded of the basics of why they are there. The oath they took to protect all.
For more on this issue please visit the Host site at www.investigatethesec.com .
- - - - -
< EOM >
Posted
Saturn