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Commentary - Jul 20, 2004 - Printable Version
- Searching For Michael Moore
by Mark Faulk
For the past few months, I've been reporting, commentating, cajoling, and just plain bitching about the stock market scandal that has decimated hundreds of small companies in the OTC stock market, and drained investors of their hard-earned savings. Our readers have joined in, bombarding the SEC, NASD, and the media with emails, phone calls, and letters asking for a full scale congressional investigation into the problem. And the various agencies have responded with a resounding "no comment", and instead have blatantly chosen to cater to the wealthy, the powerful, and the well-connected, while the rest of us get the proverbial shaft. So what else is new? The SEC did their part to squelch the outcry by enacting tepid, ineffective legislation that in effect tells the small investor to give up and go home. Do you want your nest egg to remain safe? Bury it in a jar in your backyard, and watch it grow. Whoops, my mistake, I'm thinking of gardening, money doesn't grow when it's planted in the ground. Unfortunately, it doesn't grow in the OTC stock market, either, and it won't until the entire system is overhauled to stop the corruption on both sides of the issue.
Meanwhile Dateline, the news show that believes America has a right to know the truth, refuses to even comment on the six month delay in airing a major expose' on the ongoing scandal. Apparently, their "the public has a right to know" mantra doesn't apply to them. Since The Faulking Truth broke the Dateline story over a month ago in an article entitled "Is Dateline Losing Credibility Over StockGate Story Delays?", they have ignored tons of emails from our readers and their viewers. I guess that answers the question I posed in my article. I have always suspected that most news anchors were just second-rate actors feigning interest when they conducted an interview or did a story, and Dateline's lack of concern for their viewers just validates that suspicion.
And to top it all off, The Faulking Truth has been deluged with emails from bashers who claim that the entire problem here is with the companies themselves, and not the illegal short selling that even the SEC has admitted exists and is a significant problem. They utilize the age old technique of attacking the messenger, instead of heeding the message itself. For them, I'll say this one more time: We do not in any way condone the actions of companies that defraud their stockholders, release inaccurate information, or approve multiple reverse splits in the "best interest of their shareholders". The CEOs of these types of companies should be paraded naked in public as the criminals that they are.
However, this is the faulking truth: The only way to put a stop to the corruption is to put a stop to all stock market corruption, whether it originates with the NASD, the SEC, the dealer/brokers, the crooked lenders and their cronies, or the companies themselves. All violators are equally despicable, and all should be exposed for what they are. And since the SEC has obviously dropped the ball (or maybe they never had any to begin with), the only recourse is a full Congressional investigation. End of story, case closed, next question.
So, what happens next? We at The Faulking Truth are continually looking for new information to educate the public about this travesty, and working our asses off to spread the word. But, and this is a big but (no pun intended, Michael), we are just one small publication, with limited resources and even more limited influence, and since Dateline apparently has their own self-serving agenda, the scandal still hasn't received the the nationwide exposure it deserves.
We need a champion, someone who has the ability to reach a worldwide audience, the voice to speak out against the corruption, and the cajones to take on the power brokers who are allowing this corruption to continue. We need Michael Moore. That's right, I'm sending out a message in a bottle to Michael Moore, asking him to champion our cause. We all know that Sir Michael loves controversy, laughs in the face of authority (yes, it's an annoying laugh, but it's invariably the last laugh), and most importantly: HE HATES GEORGE W. BUSH. He designed the coffin for Bush's re-election chances with his book, "Dude, Where's My Country?", built it with "Fahrenheit 911", and he could nail it shut by exposing the naked short selling scandal to the voting public. In case Michael didn't read our last article on this issue (he has been pretty busy lately, so we'll forgive him if hasn't been exposed to The Faulking Truth yet), here's the part where we discussed the investor as potential voter:
A recent CBSMarketwatch study revealed that "almost 50% of American households own stocks or mutual funds of some type, up from about 25 percent in 1990 and less than 6 percent in 1980." This increase has created what they refer to as "the rise of the investor-class voter", a constituency that could literally decide the election.
Many of the most vocal critics believe that one of the reasons that the SEC is dragging their feet on this is because of the damage it could cause President Bush in his campaign to get re-elected. According to Dave Patch (of www.investigatethesec.com ), "On April 1st White House staffers were briefed on this issue by small business leaders. What have they done since? Very little! The fact that the SEC is delaying implementation of Regulation SHO until after the election reeks of politics. The SEC needs to be investigated and investigated now."
Just as Michael started a crusade to convince Oprah to run for president, I'm organizing a campaign to get Michael Moore to champion the cause of the small investor in America. I'm asking everyone who reads this article to email Michael Moore, send him this article, reason with him, persuade him, beg him, wheedle him, harass him, stalk him, whatever it takes, get him on our side.
So, Michael, where are you? We need you to don your oversized Superman suit once more, and fly to the rescue of the little guy, the same little guy that you said gave your movie a standing ovation in Oklahoma City and Greensboro, NC. We need you to be our champion, our mouthpiece, and our voice.
Michael Moore, America Needs You!
(Editor's note: "America Needs You" is actually the official slogan of the US Army, and since we really don't need those guys pissed off at us, we want to make it perfectly clear that we are not suggesting in any way that Michael Moore should join the Armed Forces, although the visual image of Private Michael Moore in Army fatigues is a pretty funny one.
Also, we would like to make it clear that when we suggest that our readers harass and stalk Michael Moore, we are joking. We do not in any way condone breaking any laws in order to convince Michael Moore to take up our cause, no matter how stupid some of those laws might seem. And please, whatever you do, don't violate the Patriot Act, I've been told that Guantanamo Bay is not a fun place to spend the remainder of the election year.)
Email Michael Moore at: mike@michaelmoore.com
Email Dateline at: Dateline@NBC.com
(Attn. Sharon Hoffman)
Or contact them by phone: (212) 664-4444
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