The reputation of the US Securities Exchange Commission as the defender of investors’ interests was severely damaged in the Crash of 2008. First, there was the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme where the SEC completely dropped the ball. Then there was the safe harbor granted by SEC Rule 10b-18 to corporate stock manipulators in the buyback scheme […]

In the article, “Is big bank complexity irreversible?”, I suggest that nationalization of certain big banks might be the only course for banks that have become too complex to manage, and that this would not be the end of capitalism. However, nationalization of major US banks, as is now being contemplated by the Obama administration, will […]

The Crash of 2008 was the end to what I call, “the old capital markets”. A new era is beginning, but form and detail are hidden in the mists of change. It may be a decade or so before new structures and directions are visible. But before getting into the unpleasant chore […]