Just Put the SEC Out of Its Misery Already

So let's see if we can find a common thread in a couple of news items that have wafted over from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Then there's that crash-uncrash spasm in the markets the other day. Rumors whirled that it was caused by one guy pushing the wrong button. It was nuts. The House Financial Services committee hurriedly convened a hearing to find out what happened, and called the one person in the world one logically assumes would be on top of the situation, SEC chairperson Mary Schapiro. Bailouts Discourage Banks From Lending (Forbes) Think again. "Ultimately, we may learn that the extraordinary disruption in trading, however it may have been triggered, was the result of a confluence of events which, taken together. . ." she said (let's pause for breath now and continue) ". . . exacerbated what already had been a down day and led to an extraordinarily steep price drop and recovery. However, we are not prepared at this time to draw that conclusion." Maybe Ms. Schapiro isn't prepared to draw a conclusion at this time, but I am. I've concluded that in a whole range of things that we're witnessing in the markets nowadays, the SEC is more than just negligent, more than just out to lunch, but just simply inept. It's becoming glaringly obvious that the problem with the SEC is not lack of resources, or poor organization, or ideological undermining from the top -- beginning with Ronald Reagan's SEC chairman John S.R. Shad, and continuing under Harvey Pitt and Chris Cox -- but a simple lack of competence that doesn't seem to be abating.   Loading Comments...   1 2 3 Last » Next ›

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