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Commentary Too - Jan 11, 2005 - Printable Version
- Feeding the Stock Market Beast
by Mark Faulk
In a recent article on The Faulking Truth, Dave Patch tells the strange story of the OTCBB market, about how over 500 OTCBB companies that were on the preliminary list of heavily shorted stocks suddenly disappeared from the SEC's "official" list posted only three weeks later. That's right, the OTCBB stocks, the companies historically called the riskiest and worst regulated in the entire stock market, are suddenly the model of an efficient market. Only 28 companies out of nearly 3,200 total companies from the OTCBB made the list, compared to four times that number for the NASDAQ. For the uninitiated, that means that according to the SEC, the heavily regulated exchange, the NASDAQ, is more corrupt than the OTCBB exchange, which most brokers and the SEC themselves consider the Wild West of the stock market. How can that possibly be true? The answer is simple, it's not true. In my opinion, the SEC is merely tossing a bone to the countless investors who have been screwed by the naked short sellers, the offshore lenders, and even by corrupt OTC companies themselves. Let's face it, when there is money involved, and when the system itself invites corruption, the crooks will walk through the open door and make themselves at home, and they won't leave until the last piece of furniture, the last jewelry, and the last last silver candlestick is stolen.
In my opinion, the OTC companies are being fed to the wolves, and the SEC hopes that by making a public show of listing companies from the major exchanges on the "Threshold Exchange List", that investors will simply say "problem solved" and move on, while the major issues are swept under the rug. They want to bar the door after the house has been stripped bare. And in the case of the OTC stocks, they're leaving the doors hanging wide open and unguarded.
But that's only the beginning, In February, the Bush Administration will unveil their Social Security plan that will pump hundreds of billions of additional dollars into the stock market. This is an excerpt from a January 9th Chicago Tribune article entitled "Investment Pros see Bonanza - Social Security Proposal Would add Billions to Investments and Fees":
"The prospect of 100 million Americans each having $1,000 of their Social Security contributions to invest every year has investment professionals salivating at the potential financial bonanza.
About $100 billion a year would be freed up for stocks, bonds and other investments under a tentative plan President Bush has floated to fix the Social Security retirement system by creating private investment accounts.
The fees paid to brokers and money managers could run into the billions.
President Bush is expected to unveil the plan in late February, with administration officials eyeing investment accounts that would hold two-thirds of workers' annual payroll taxes.
'The potential for investment firms has to be mouthwatering,' said Michael Falk, chief investment officer with Chicago-based Promenade LOC, which helps workers manage their employer-sponsored 401(key) accounts. 'We're talking about billions of dollars.'"
That's right, the same brokers, dealers, and regulators who at the very least have sat idly by while you have been robbed blind, and many of whom have backed the truck up to your front door while the crooks loaded up your valuables, now want to invest your retirement money for you. They've bled the small investor dry, and they need new blood. Does anyone here remember the huge losses of only a few years ago, of investors losing everything because of a corrupt market, and because the SEC failed in it's duty to "protect investors and maintain the integrity of the securities market"? Well, guess what? These same investment firms have pumped millions of dollars into Bush and other Republican leaders campaign funds. Surprise, surprise. The rules of the game may have been tweaked a bit, but the players are the same, and so is the outcome.
There is only one solution to this blatant disregard for the American investor. This scandal must see the light of day! Now more than ever, this issue needs to be heard by America, covered by the major media, and Congress needs to investigate the entire stock market. Until the stock market is cleaned up, your money is at risk, and if the Bush Administration decides to pump hundreds of billions of additional dollars into the market, then that money is at risk as well. It's time for our representatives to represent those who elected them, and to do the right thing for America!
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