The collapse of the housing bubble and the following demise of Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros. AIG , Freddie Mac , Fannie Mae and other widespread financial shocks that still reverberate around the world today was a mini replay of the Great Crash of 1929. Following the '29 Crash an investigation into the cause was after fits and starts successfully led by New York Assistant District Attorney Ferdinand Pecora. His background was prosecuting gangsters. He exposed the constructively criminal behaviors of the banks most notably National City Bank (Citigroup). He forced National City Banks Chairman Charles Mitchell to resign. Then and now it would be difficult to bring criminal charges against powerful Wall Street bankers. The legal hurdle of criminal intent is difficult to prove. So Pecora hounded him out of office. Later The Securities and Exchange Commission was formed and laws were codified.. Ferdinand Pecora was one of the first SEC Commissioners.
The present Chairwoman of the SEC is Mary Jo White. She also has a background in New York of prosecuting gangsters and terrorists. Like Pecora she plays hardball. But it still remains difficult if not impossible to get higher - ups in Wall Street banks to get and win criminal indictments. J P Morgan's Jamie Dimon is poster boy for the rogues on Wall Street. At the present time , his bank is subject to over 25 different major law suits related to the financial melt down.Collectively they add up to the profile of a criminal enterprise. The bank should be prosecuted under RICO statutes.But that won't happen because of the realities of our legal system and the political power of Wall Street firms..
But there is an old fashioned way to get rid of Dimon and others like him. Harass him.Annoy him. Roust him.Bother him. To that purpose Mary Jo White should routinely invite/deman Jamie dimon come to her office for short questions.The meetings could only be for a half hour. But people like Jamie Dimon will fume. He won't tolerate being shoved around by a five foot , smart, pugnacious woman who can make trouble for him if he doesn't show manners.He didn't become Chairman of J P Morgan for this kind of treatment.
Showing posts with label securities act 1934. Show all posts
Showing posts with label securities act 1934. Show all posts
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Lehman Brothers: Next Target Of Short-Selling Pools ?
Some of the same greedy monkeys of Wall Street that had the depression-era Glass Steagall ,a.k.a. The Banking Act of 1935 , repealed in 1999 which is the reason banks are in trouble today had another key piece of depression-era market abuse legislation rolled back in 2007. The "short sale uptick rule " was eliminated.
Simply ,short sales of stocks by speculators had to be executed at a higher price than the last sale or equal to the last sale if was a higher price. This uptick rule was part of the The Securities Act Of 1934. The legislation created the Securities And Exchange Commission. The rule was put in place to stop bear raids by individuals and/or groups that drove down stocks causing margin calls and in some cases bankrupticies of the targeted company. Joe Kennedy of the infamous/famous Kennedy family was notorious for this tactic. So much so that Roosevelt appointed Kennedy as the first S.E.C. Commisioner . Joe basically wrote the outline for The Securities Act Of 1934 because he knew how best to steal in those unregulated markets and FDR wanted Kennedy to write legislation to stop stock market abuses!
Well Lehman Brothers is down 10% today at $38.00. It's down fro a high of $80.00 about a year ago. The rumors on the Street is that hedge and/or hedge funds are spreading rumors about Lehman's ability to remain solvent. At the same time the hedge funds are selling short Lehman stock on downticks whish is now legal.
It's the same tactic that was used so efffectively to drive Bear Stearns out of business and into a Federal bailout and acquired by J P Morgan Chase. Bear Stearns stock went from a 52 week high of $170.00 to an acquistion price of $10.00 per share. So if Lehman goes down who's next?
Now if the hard learned lessons and legislation of the depression era were just left in place, then most of this market turmoil would not be happening. But of course then we would be dealing with a monkey/primate with real intelligence and not a frivolous primate wearing a three-piece suit.
Simply ,short sales of stocks by speculators had to be executed at a higher price than the last sale or equal to the last sale if was a higher price. This uptick rule was part of the The Securities Act Of 1934. The legislation created the Securities And Exchange Commission. The rule was put in place to stop bear raids by individuals and/or groups that drove down stocks causing margin calls and in some cases bankrupticies of the targeted company. Joe Kennedy of the infamous/famous Kennedy family was notorious for this tactic. So much so that Roosevelt appointed Kennedy as the first S.E.C. Commisioner . Joe basically wrote the outline for The Securities Act Of 1934 because he knew how best to steal in those unregulated markets and FDR wanted Kennedy to write legislation to stop stock market abuses!
Well Lehman Brothers is down 10% today at $38.00. It's down fro a high of $80.00 about a year ago. The rumors on the Street is that hedge and/or hedge funds are spreading rumors about Lehman's ability to remain solvent. At the same time the hedge funds are selling short Lehman stock on downticks whish is now legal.
It's the same tactic that was used so efffectively to drive Bear Stearns out of business and into a Federal bailout and acquired by J P Morgan Chase. Bear Stearns stock went from a 52 week high of $170.00 to an acquistion price of $10.00 per share. So if Lehman goes down who's next?
Now if the hard learned lessons and legislation of the depression era were just left in place, then most of this market turmoil would not be happening. But of course then we would be dealing with a monkey/primate with real intelligence and not a frivolous primate wearing a three-piece suit.
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