SEC staff will not recommend any enforcement action against Lehman or any of its former...

This news story has 11 comments:

Register or Login to rate comments »

Hitesh Patel Comments (312)
 
FASB. Just as corrupt as any other agency.
24 May 2012, 04:19 PM Reply Like

Whitehawk Comments (2799)
 
The SEC is useless.
24 May 2012, 05:02 PM Reply Like

TomasViewPoint Comments (4252)
 
I seem to recall claims in the last election that Bush's SEC was corrupt and wasn't doing anything about these massive failures like Lehman and Bear.

So what has changed? Either that was just election trash talk or someone did not know what they were talking about.
24 May 2012, 05:16 PM Reply Like

davidingeorgia Comments (2696)
 
President Goldman Sachs talks a good game about getting reckless Wall Streeters under control, but when it comes down to actually acting - especially in an election year when he needs lots and lots and lots of Wall Street money - it's not going to happen. Obama's wedged more tightly into bed with this crowd than Bush ever was (and Bush was too damn cozy with them by far).
24 May 2012, 05:34 PM Reply Like

TomasViewPoint Comments (4252)
 
Reminds me of the paradigm in the 1930's that Nazism was the opposite of Communism which was really bad so therefore Nazism was good or better. Tens of millions of dead later we realize both were bad and it all happened right under our noses.

Reps and Dems are not that different in real terms. Rhetoric is different I suppose but actions and results are the same.
24 May 2012, 06:22 PM Reply Like

Ray Lopez Comments (1350)
 
It's like speeding over 65 mph on an interstate highway --no crime since everybody is doing it.
24 May 2012, 07:21 PM Reply Like

nyuszika45 Comments (630)
 
Ahh, I remember this report from years ago, Professor Allen Hynek, if I recall correctly, termed it "swamp gas"; the same cause for that mysterious market bottom-out of a few years ago.

Isn't it nice to be reassured that aliens are not on the planet?
24 May 2012, 08:10 PM Reply Like

untrusting investor Comments (9879)
 
The SEC probably doesn't even know what enforcement is ... they are just not that smart.
24 May 2012, 09:35 PM Reply Like

nyuszika45 Comments (630)
 
I would far prefer to believe that than the cynical alternative which I sadly tend to find more plausible.
24 May 2012, 09:36 PM Reply Like

1980XLS-2.0 Comments (526)
 
During the late 1980's S&L crisis, hundreds went to jail. Not this time.

Here's your "Hope & change"


http://bit.ly/HCRo86
25 May 2012, 03:34 AM Reply Like

richdiv Comments (12)
 
Part of the problem is GAAP - my motto always was "GAAP is crap." There are no enforceable standards; each accounting firm can classify the same transaction in very different ways; amusingly, once your auditor picks a particular method, the method cannot change, even when it is later proven to be incorrect; my company was probably the only one with a particular treatment allowed; at industry meetings it was always amusing to verify that only our company was allowed this totally incorrect treatment - our auditors could not change the method because, once they approved it, the method was "correct." When they compare prior year's in the 10K/10Q, if the method changed they would need to highlight their old mistake. Accountants don't "make mistakes." I agree that consistency is good, but following the best procedure or accounting practice trumps consistency for me. Sarbanes destroyed historical accounting standards. I was overseas when it passed; when I returned, audit standards had declined a lot. Process maps matter now - but whether the process works or produces correct numbers does not matter. So yes, FASB may be part of the problem, but there are lots of other accounting problems.
25 May 2012, 04:00 AM Reply Like