The F&C Editorial – July 9th Edition
Sarbanes-Oxley
Sarbanes-Oxley is a bogus legislation with the only goal to collect money from companies. It’s useless because there are sufficient laws on the books to prevent whatever this legislation wants to prevent.
For instance, it never stopped the fraud in the financial meltdown. I think that is the biggest test for its usefulness. When we needed it most, it failed to protect us.
Just one more piece of bureaucracy with the only intent to squeeze money from public companies and make it more difficult to stay public. It sent thousand of companies to foreign exchanges. During its life, Sarbanes-Oxley contributed to slashing the market for public entities in half.
It's time for it to go. No use for anyone.
Ten years ago, around 9,100 companies filed annual proxy statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last year, roughly 6,450 did; so far in 2010, only about 4,100 have, estimates Wharton Research Data Services. The Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index tracks 4,136 stocks, down from 4,599 just a year-and-a-half ago and 5,000 at the end of 2005.
Sarbanes-Oxley does not make any rules - it just a way to collect more fees from companies and push their expenses up.
Financial Overhaul
The financial overhaul legislation does take concrete steps to rein in excessive risk taking by Wall Street firms. It seeks to restrain major financial institutions from over leveraging and works to protect taxpayers so they are never again forced to be in a position to bail out banks from their own folly. The disturbing irony is that these days banks are shunning risks altogether. The pendulum of risk taking by lenders has swung to the side of excessive caution. By dramatically cutting back loans to consumers and small business, financial institutions have hampered the ability of the economy to fully bounce back from the most severe recession since the Great Depression.
Cap and Trade
Cap and Trade is little more than a new federal tax scheme to rob the middle class of more of their hard earned money in exchange for paying-off the environmentalists who rule the Democratic Party. "Cap and Trade" will simply increase the costs of energy and reduce everyone's standard of living, except the politicians who profit from this policy. It is doubtful it will improve anyone's air or water. China and the developing world are not about to stop manufacturing operations and the attendant pollution.
This is Obama's hypocrisy and political expediency. Obama is more than willing to tap any type of well that generates taxes (drilling licenses, carbon emissions, auto mileage, banking, internet use, etc.). Obama has no principles other than delivering more Obama to more people (illegal immigrants, structurally unemployed, union thugs, and environmental monetizing thieves).
Time and Time Again
William P. Frasca
Time and time again we constantly heard that Wall Street and the Banks are the culprits of all that is unholy within our Proven Successful Capitalistic Nation of individual hard work and effort. That uses Yankee ingenuity and initiative, to aggressively obtain financial security and wealth. The true reward is to congratulate these individuals instead of looking and seeking excuses and sympathy for all those, whose main existence on this earth, is to unconscionably take and contribute nothing to their lives, their family or society. Right now even with all the freedom robbing, ignorance and by-passing our United Sates Constitution, by President Barack Hussein Obama, “The Chosen One” and his band of Socialist Marxist Democratic thieves, there is freedom of choice.
No one in America is preordained or forced into a life of minimal scholastic advancements or doomed to an existence of compulsory manual or unskilled labor, relying on the government solely to raise their minimum wage. Though government interference, to buy votes and loyalty, developed and increased the welfare system that escalated social and financial dependency that diminished human dignity, eliminated and stymied all advancements and programmed individuals to unmercifully drain the life out of their community, the hard working taxpayers, by becoming blood sucking wards of the government.
Sometimes a person, by no fault of their own, as we are experiencing in our lives today, such as layoffs, lockouts, companies filing bankruptcy, shutdowns, or unexpected illnesses, disabilities, or death, need and deserve some assistance, but don’t forgot, they contributed, through their employment, to these programs. So these justified individuals are definitely not receiving a handout, but a government enacted insurance policy.
How can anyone with a minimum amount of intelligence, offer any extended justification or sympathy, by paying the freight to a family, whose main income and career goals were third, forth or fifth generation of public assistance, compounded by millions of illegal aliens. There is definitely something foul and wrong, with our system and priorities.
Now Congress and our President Barack Hussein Obama, “The Chosen One’ felt compelled to add further restrictions on Wall Street and the Banking Industry for their renegade borrowing system, through their newly created two thousand page, Financial Reform Bill. The two main legislators who orchestrated this debacle are Democrats Barney Frank, Congressman
Senator Dodd, played “Mickey the Boob”, by pulling the same idiotic strategy and statement as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “The Incompetent One” did on the unpopular forced Healthcare Bill, by stating "No one will know until this is actually in place how it works”.
The character, of these uncertain and dubious initiators, and all who are responsible for this or any other debatable Bill that restrains Capitalism and enhances Socialism, with the ultimate results of restricting freedoms, must be thwarted, before its approved or rejected.
They were given a standing ovation from their peers, without any debate or knowledge of the Bill’s contents, which only go to prove that “birds of the same feather flock together”. These Congressional birds are justly described and identified as useless, ineffective empty headed clowns and jokers that attract the same unintelligent, brainless dim-witted audience
Again the Socialist Marxist Democrats as usual are blaming President Bush for all these mishaps, unwilling to accept any of the responsibility, but the last time we looked, President Barack Hussein Obama, “The Chosen One”, The United States Senate, Congress, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are all Democrats and are presently the main party in power.
This all started back during the inept Jimmy Carter failed Administration. He always pictured himself as the self proclaimed champion of the repressed and the under privileged. This is identified in layman’s terms, as Santa Claus, to the “hand out” population, making everyday for them, Christmas. This initial starting point and charitable policy, of using our money, was compounded and abused over the years, called the Community Reinvestment Act. It forcibly squeezed from financial institutions into administering risky loans and montages mostly towards minorities, including all those who didn’t have the skills and resources to pay them back. Do this enough times and the final results will always be the same, bankruptcy.
When will anyone in our society ever take any responsibilities for their own actions? We blame the all financial institutions for the recession and foreclosures, but where are the brains of the consumer to buy over their heads. Even though the interest rates were low, it brought inflated prices to the real estate market. Homes weren’t worth the asking prices, while individuals panicked, over bided and gobbled up everything with a roof and property. The same house had unrealistically and illogically doubled and tripled in price, bringing inflated mortgages, decreasing and eliminated equity. together with stagnant salaries, or loss of employment was the perfect foreclosure formula.
Naturally some rules and regulations must be etched in stone, documented and enforced to keep honesty and integrity to protect both sides from corruption, scams, illegitimate fraud and greed, while defending and insuring individual and corporate financial security.
Unfortunately the pendulum, today, went too far in the opposite direction, with all loans and mortgages sparsely offered, hindering financial growth. This is adversely affecting all aspects of employment and our regressing economy.
These immortal words said by one of our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln must be taught, revered and followed to the letter, without hesitation. He proclaimed that “You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich”.
Our President Barack Hussein Obama, “The Chosen One” and the Socialist Marxist Democrats must heed these words of wisdom as a stern warning. Which is top stop their Robin Hood mentality of robbing from the rich and giving it to the self inflicted poor, by drastically cutting the deficit, obeying the Constitution, cutting business and personal taxes, stopping their socialistic ideals, giving incentives to increase small businesses and keeping their noses out where they don’t belong.
Government is definitely not the answer to good health, wealth and improved quality of life. A true leader reads and follows history, learning from the mistakes of the past, so they’re not repeated. The Progressives’ arrogant philosophies are the complete opposite and that is to re-write it to fit their own selfish agenda.