It doesn't take a rocket scientist -- and certainly not an accountant -- to deduce one thing from the Lehman scandal. The misleading of regulators, investors and the public did not happen in isolation. Like Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Fannie/Freddie, CDOs, Bear, AIG, bond insurers, GM, Chrysler, CIT, California, Greece and the countless others wrapped up in this crisis, Lehman is symptomatic of a banking system bent on finding ways to hide risk from the investing public and regulatory community. Every time the truth was uncovered, investors fled and new investors demanded returns that compensated them for the new understanding of the known risks and for those that might remain hidden. In some cases, the cost of that new capital broke the firms.
Traditionally, banks and investment banks acted as principals or agents, matching capital in search of economic return with borrowers needing capital to earn a real return on economic activity. Today, they have turned to manufacturing artificial demand for financial products on false pretense. We have seen them act in such a manner on behalf of their debt-issuing clients. And in the case of Lehman, they have done so on their own behalf. We can expect that other firms used this and similar tactics to hide their true financial condition -- firms that are still in business and, to varying degrees, massaging or manipulating their numbers.
It should be clear to all that a deeper examination of the relationship between all the audit firms and their clients on the issue of risk-obfuscation is needed. Limiting any inquiry to Lehman alone is inadequate. To start, here are a few simple questions:
In the banking world, there are generally four types of risk; liquidity risk, credit risk, operational risk and reputational risk. Of these, only reputational risk failures threaten the entire value of the business and its goodwill. If our questions remain unanswered, the entire financial system will remain dangerously exposed.
Cross-posted from New Deal 2.0.
Why? ... because the "all" of the Wall Street firms were using the Repo 105 loans ... defrauding regulators and investors ... and any investigation would lead to them all ... and their political accomplices.
You can't ask corrupt politicians to investigate their campaign contributors.
Now get back to work you peons ... pay your taxes ... and don't forget to obey the laws created by corrupt politicians !
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/7242008_Florida_Felon_Mortgage_License.asp
Not until some big heads are put behind bars, not much will really change. The fear of long term imprisonment is the only solution to the success of financial reform.
http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com
agrees!
A majority of Americans voted for Obama and his mandate of reform and change, and we expect results.
When are we going to start seeing some reform and change on Wall Street and the stubborn bankers?
When are we going to start seeing justice served, and reparations made by the financial terrorists of the last 2 decades?
There is a lot of work to do, keep the momentum rolling and go faster. Our survival depends upon it.
This applies to the financial sector, banking, home-mortgage, auto-industry, healthcare, education, etc,. Nearly all working in each of these sectors want NO government interference. Yet those working in these fields refuse to address their own rot.
A decade ago, we were told about "Economies of Scale". So every enterprise grew, claiming to be efficient with lower administrative overheads. Now the buzz-phrase is "Too big to fail" with overhead cost of each enterprise in the various sectors in the region of 30%.
We all expect the elected representatives in Washington, DC to come up with solutions. The problem, these elected representatives in Washington DC are bought and paid-for by the very individuals and institutions that created this mess. This applies to both chambers and both political parties.
So the Fraud is widespread across the country.
9/11 totally destroyed the momentum of the SEC investigation into the extent of the Enron like accounting practices across the books of Wall Street corporations. That investigation should have been short and concise, as the books are handled by just a handful of accounting firms. But, tragedy of convenient tragedies, the records for that investigation went down in the infamous building 7. The building that went down late in the day on 9/11, in 7 seconds flat, into it's own footprint, no plane in sight.
Well, the reaper is back. I can't help but wonder what Terror is going to be used to diffuse and confuse this time.
Mary T. Ficalora, author of Choosing Honor, Avail Press
I was recently swindled on the last stock I will ever own while the SEC did nothing when there was an obvious dirty deal between its management and an acquiring company. In my opinion, anybody at this point who invests their life savings (or any savings) as a retail investor in the market is INSANE. Likewise, anybody who keeps a large percentage of their money in a big bank is simply a glutton for punishment.
Trust took the last train out of town.
But I believe very strongly that the fundamental lesson goes somewhat into the direction of rocket science.
The notion that the intricacies of evaluating, measuring, managing, accounting for and presenting risk could be carried out by people with little or no understanding of math or engineering skills will need to go.
If you want that to be possible, you should impose a cap for corporation's balance sheet sizes (not market capitalization) at a hundred billion and on top of that a severe cap on the complexity of transactions allowed. It would be the end of financial intermediation.
The result is, of course, that the preceding decades were a giant obfuscation of risks undertaken by people who DID AT NO INSTANT IN TIME understand them.
I don't mean anybody in particular and of course I am not naming anybody. But basic decency requires to say out loud that this is how things are.
Anything else would be insulting the work ethics of peolpe who DO have adequate training in math or engineering and who were let go, mobbed or fired for doing their job.
If anybody wants to repeat this, the world financial system will be finished in less than a decade.
All I can say is: hear, hear!!!
Thank you.