The reason I drew the resemblance of the SEC to the French govt.was the fact that this agency is a joke to all investors for whom it swears to defend and protect. Their actions always seem to come a few beats late. Remember Harvey Pitt? I recall that fat-ass making a speech about a year ago, tough-talking like Howard Beale to a bunch of economy weenies …"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore." That was just before he hopped an airplane for a backroom conference with some CEO of a company that was under SEC investigation. So anyway, now they decide to show their teeth in this mutual-fund timing fraud – but way behind Spitzer and that AG in Oklahoma!
Recently, I read where the UN actually managed to do something productive, something that seemed impossible not that long ago. Not only did the Libyan gov't. admit responsibility for Lockerbie, but also ponied up some serious cash in compensation ($2.7b). Then the French govt. strolls in and threatens to kill the whole deal because that settlement is better than the one the they negotiated ($30m) over the 1989 bombing of a French airliner in Africa. They accepted this deal which wasn’t negotiated directly with Khadafi, but ordered by a Paris court in 1999.
So, they unilaterally agree and accept a settlement…Then they see the UK and USA getting more…So they maliciously veto an international agreement in an attempt to extort more for themselves. And they wonder why everyone hates their guts.
AI
