culture, politics, commentary, criticism

Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Blame the salesman, the auditor, someone, anyone. The irregularities in the mutual fund industry have a new scapegoat. Here's the logic: the president of the company is stealing, so senior management intends to pin the blame on the people who sell the products (this
Investment News link probably won't last long):
Some mutual fund companies are looking to pass the buck to broker-dealers over potential liabilities stemming from market timing and late trading of funds, brokerage executives say.

Over the past two months, many mutual fund companies have been sending additions and revisions to selling agreements to broker-dealers that sell their funds.

In the revised agreements, the fund companies often ask brokerage executives to sign off to ensure that no adviser or broker is engaging in late trading, which is illegal, or market timing, which is loosely defined and supposedly discouraged by the industry.

[...]

The mutual fund companies are looking to put a potential legal burden on the broker-dealer networks that sell their funds, says another brokerage industry executive, also asking not to be named. "They want to limit their liability, and place it on the shoulders of the broker-dealer," the executive says.
Shifting responsibility to the salesman does nothing to stop the thievery carried out by insiders in senior management.

The solution to the mutual fund crisis is the same as the solution to the Enron crisis: put those responsible in jail, with sentences that are proportionate to their crimes. Make the convictions substantial and humiliating.

More than half of federal prisoners layjailare imprisoned for drug offenses. But white collar CEO crime, which arguably is much likelier that drug possession to victimize innocent people — by stealing their money, health or livelihoods — is punished with the gentlest of reprimands.

Blaming anyone else is all the rage right now. Bush's top contributor Ken Lay is still at large because the Department of Justice blamed the auditor instead of the perpetrator.

Note that all this deflected responsibility comes from the people who promised to bring accountability back to America. Ultimately, your view of this issue depends on your relative definition of what corruption is. Would you rather your president lie about accepting $2 million from Enron, or a blow job?
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Greatest Hits · Alternatives to First Command Financial Planning · First Command, last resort, Part 3 · Part 2 · Part 1 · Stealing $50K from a widow: Wells Real Estate · Leo Wells, REITs and divine wealth · Sex-crazed Red State teenagers · What I hate: a manifesto · Spawn of Darleen Druyun · All-American high school sex party · Why is Ken Lay smiling? · Poppy's Enron birthday party · The Saudi money laundry and the president's uncle · The sentence of Enron's John Forney · The holiness of Neil Bush's marriage · The Silence of Cheney: a poem · South Park Christians · Capitalist against Bush: Warren Buffett · Fastow childen vs. Enron children · Give your prescription money to your old boss · Neil Bush, hard-working matchmaker · Republicans against fetuses and pregnant women · Emboldened Ken Lay · Faith-based jails · Please die for me so I can skip your funeral · A brief illustrated history of the Republican Party · Nancy Victory · Soldiers become accountants · Beware the Merrill Lynch mob · Darleen Druyun's $5.7 billion surprise · First responder funding · Hoovering the country · First Command fifty percent load · Ken Lay and the Atkins diet · Halliburton WMD · Leave no CEO behind · August in Crawford · Elaine Pagels · Profitable slave labor at Halliburton · Tom Hanks + Mujahideen · Sharon & Neilsie Bush · One weekend a month, or eternity · Is the US pumping Iraqi oil to Kuwait? · Cheney's war · Seth Glickenhaus: Capitalist against Bush · Martha's blow job · Mark Belnick: Tyco Catholic nut · Cheney's deferred Halliburton compensation · Jeb sucks sugar cane · Poindexter & LifeLog · American Family Association panic · Riley Bechtel and the crony economy · The Book of Sharon (Bush) · The Art of Enron · Plunder convention · Waiting in Kuwait: Jay Garner · What's an Army private worth? · Barbara Bodine, Queen of Baghdad · Sneaky bastards at Halliburton · Golf course and barbecue military strategy · Enron at large · Recent astroturf · Cracker Chic 2 · No business like war business · Big Brother · Martha Stewart vs. Thomas White · Roger Kimball, disappointed Republican poetry fan · Cheney, Lay, Afghanistan · Terry Lynn Barton, crimes of burning · Feasting at the Cheney trough · Who would Jesus indict? · Return of the Carlyle Group · Duct tape is for little people · GOP and bad medicine · Sears Tower vs Mt Rushmore · Scared Christians · Crooked playing field · John O'Neill: The man who knew · Back to the top






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