Geithner = "Chief Facilitator"

This is all getting fairly ridiculous. When will someone go to jail? Jeez, give us a scapegoat if nothing else. I don't know how they expect anyone to respect the law at this point. The fraud and malfeasance reaches to the very top.

Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism said: "Quite a few observers, including this blogger, have been stunned and frustrated at the refusal to investigate what was almost certain accounting fraud at Lehman." He goes on to note the possibility of "accounting fraud," noting "collusion" on the part of the Fed, ultimately condemning the activities described as the probable "aiding and abetting Lehman in accounting fraud and Sarbox violations." But we will never know for sure unless the matter is investigated, which it most likely won't be. See:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/03/ny-fed-under-geithner-implicated-in-lehman-accounting-fraud.html

Our government now regularly bends over backwards to suborn criminal activity. And when the wrong-doers are caught, not only do they not go to prison as they should, they get made whole again on the back of everyone else's money.

Wall Street Snake Oil

Investors Find No Shelter
DALBAR Study Reveals Carnage for Equity, Bond and Asset Allocation Shareholders

http://www.dalbarinc.com/content/showpage.asp?page=2009030901&r=/pressroom/default.asp&s=Return+To+Press+Releases

Boston, MA -(March 9, 2009) By all measures, 2008 was the year that wiped out wealth-and DALBAR's Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB) is no exception. In its 15th annual study of mutual fund investor behavior, DALBAR discovered that equity, fixed income and asset allocation fund investors experienced average annual losses for all time periods examined except the longest (20-year) time frame. And even those positive returns did not keep pace with the average inflation rate.

"The dramatic events that continue to plague our financial markets have provoked panic, which exacerbates the ongoing carnage," said Lou Harvey, president of DALBAR. "For 15 years, QAIB has shown that investor returns lag what performance reports and prospectuses would lead one to believe is achievable. While those returns are, in fact, theoretically achievable, the reality is that investors are not rational, and make buy and sell decisions at the worst possible moments," he said.

Among the studies findings:

• For the 20 years ended December 31, 2008, equity, fixed income and asset allocation fund investors had average annual returns of 1.87%, 0.77% and 1.67%, respectively. The inflation rate averaged 2.89% over that same time period.


• Equity fund investors lost 41.6% last year, compared with 37.7% for the S&P 500 Index.


• Bond fund investors lost 11.7% last year, versus a gain of 5.2% for the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index. This disparity is largely due to the underperformance of managed bond funds caused by mortgage-backed securities.


• With an annual loss of 30% last year, asset allocation fund investors fared better than equity fund investors.

------

Rules for the owner class:

• Risk is easy with other people's money.
• Moral imperative: consumers are chumps who should be parted from their money.
• Everyone else is a consumer of what you sell - whatever "fabulous" thing that is.
• When all else fails, get the state to support your thievery with statutes and subsidies. You're not a common crook, after all.