People say that Republicans are always trying to trash Democrats, but that's simply not true. Not when they're the Job Creators! For example,
here's Jon Corzine.
Mr. Corzine told the House Agriculture Committee that he was “stunned” when he learned late on Oct. 30 that about $1 billion of customer money could not be located, a discovery that thwarted a sale of the firm and led to its filing for bankruptcy. Regulators and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are now hunting for the money and examining potential wrongdoing at the firm.
Thursday’s testimony was his first public comments since the bankruptcy and came after the committee voted last week to subpoena him.
The former senator insisted that he always tried to “do the right thing.”
“I never intended to break any rules,” said Mr. Corzine, dressed in a dark suit but without his trademark sweater vest. “I know I had no intention to ever authorize the transfer of segregated moneys. I know what my intentions were.” Mr. Corzine has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Why don't we leave Corzine alone? He doesn't deserve this grilling! The man should be back in his office or on his way to the Bahamas, where he can create jobs! And we certainly should stop trying to regulate a guy who's just trying to run a small business.
He did not rule out possible wrongdoing at MF Global. In theory, an employee may have misused customer cash after misinterpreting the chief executive’s words, he said.
Still, over three hours of testimony, Mr. Corzine danced carefully around questions touching on the scandal of the missing funds, using phrases like “never intended” and “not to my knowledge.”
And he offered little insight into the whereabouts of the missing money. He surmised that one potential cause of the shortfall was the “extraordinary number of transactions during MF Global’s last few days,” calling it a “chaotic” period that was “extremely difficult” to “reconstruct.”
See? If we'd just let him go back to his office (or the Bahamas) then he'd be able to find that money. We should let the free market take care of this!
Funny how you didn't include this passage in your post:
ReplyDeleteMr. Corzine, who was defeated for re-election as governor of New Jersey in 2009, also defended his dealings with regulators. Months before the firm failed, he began a personal lobbying blitz, urging regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to weaken a rule that would rein in the use of customer funds. He took his pitch directly to the agency’s chairman, Gary Gensler, who worked for Mr. Corzine at Goldman Sachs in the 1990s.
Their relationship has come under a microscope on Capitol Hill. Mr. Gensler recused himself from the investigation of MF Global after Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, raised questions about Mr. Gensler’s past acquaintance with Mr. Corzine.
So there were regulations in place, yet Democrat Corzine used his influence and relationships to circumvent those regulations.
You know what we should do? Have a regulation written that would make it illegal to circumvent regulations!
How come Obama isn't using Corzine as an example of cronyism and disgusting behavior while on the stump?
Hey, didn't someone in the White House refer to Corzine as the "smartest guy on the economy", and didn't President Obama take over $500k from Corzine?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buRO9TSlScQ
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/02/8599414-corzine-top-obama-fundraiser-under-fbi-investigation
All right. Since you guys are going to be running all three branches of government again next year, how are you going to deal with situations like Corzine?
ReplyDeleteInvestigate the crimes, and jail the guilty.
ReplyDeleteYou do realize that it is impossible to prevent crime, right?
Corzine and Enron are cut from the same cloth. Both should suffer the same fate.
Maybe if Corzine hadn't been skimming money to line his pockets, and to give it to Obama's campaign (to buy his way to an Administration post), there would have been a few bucks left over to create some jobs, no?
According to current law, Corzine hasn't committed any crimes. The campagain contributions, for example, were merely organized by him. And he's not on trial, he's simply being asked to explain what happened. Indeed, there is a sign in front of him at the hearing that reads "The Honorable Jon Corzine".
ReplyDeleteSo really, aside from the fact that he is a Democrat, you have no problem with the guy. Or at least with the things he does.
How could you ever come to that conclusion?
ReplyDeleteDo you think Corzine has any responsibility in the loss of that much money, and the fact that even he can't explain where it went?
He should have responsibility for it, that's my point - if I take $100 from you, I go to jail, but if Corzine takes your nest egg, that's just the downside of a free market.
ReplyDeleteThe right has been fighting for years to lessen oversight, strip regulations, and make it legal for a guy like Corzine to pump big money into regulations. You're going to be outraged about it NOW?
Corzine does bear responsibility as CEO to know where those monies went.
ReplyDeleteAs far as breaking rules/laws, Corzine appears to have allowed the use of client funds to cover Corporate debts. That's a big no-no, you know. I'm happy to sit by, and wait for the investigation, and see if charges are brought.
It's one thing to lose investors money via bad investments. But to lose their money by using it to cover up massive losses is another thing. It's not a "downside of the free market", it's a violation, and one that deserves punishment.
Since you are so smart, how can something like this be prevented in the future?
We need to beef up the FTC with more inspectors, and appoint them from somewhere other than the ranks of big business.
ReplyDeleteAnd definately keep any lobbyists from going into politics.
I'd have more confidence in your solution, if you knew which agencies performed what specific job. (Hint: the FTC is the Federal Trade Commission, and doesn't work in this area)
ReplyDeleteLobbying wasn't the issue here, it's that the agency guy in charge that Corzine went to for help was a guy that used to work for Corzine in a previous job.
So your "solutions" don't really do anything to prevent this happening again, do they? Any other ideas?
Corzine isn't the only rich weasel taking advantage of our weakened regulation system. And I hope you'll agree that people like him were operating just as efficiently under that previous administration. The regulations are in place; it's the REGULATORS who seem to be the problem. No matter who's in charge, they always seem to be willing to turn a blind eye.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I doubt there is a solution to this stuff. People who are clever enough to become rich are clever enough to screw with the rest of us.
That doesn't mean I have to give 'em tax breaks.
Again, the problem in this instance wasn't regulations (or lack thereof), it was CRONYISM. The regulator used to work for Corzine at Goldman Sachs.
ReplyDeleteSo what's your solution to cronyism? Making sure honest guys like Newt Gingrich are running things?
ReplyDeleteLet me try it without the snark: do you think there is a way to prevent this kind of criminal behavior without beefing up regulation or enforcement?
ReplyDeleteI think that criminals will always be one step ahead of the law/regulations. The way to put a serious dent in a bad behavior, is to make the punishement hurt far worse than the reward from the crime.
ReplyDeleteThere are laws on the books against murder, murders will always happen. You can't regulate them away.
There are laws on the books preventing Medicare billers from commiting fraud, yet fraud still happens.
There are regulations and the SEC to prevent insider trading, yet that happens all the time.
We need to make examples out of guys like Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff, Jon Corzine, etc; to help reduce the chance of the next guy trying to think he can get away with it.
If we just enforce the existing laws, and put the guilty in prison, it should be enough.
I feel that you and I both think Corzine is guilty of using client monies illegally, yet he won't spend a single day behind bars. Think you and I would, if we did the same thing?
Same goes for taxes, and not paying them. If you and I didn't pay our taxes, and blamed it on Turbo Tax, think we'd get the same treatment as Tim Geithner or Tom Daschle?
The problem is cronyism. And it's bad regardless of whichever Party the scumbag(s) belong to.
All right, we're in agreement that there's too much corruption, and that allowing it to continue simply makes it worse. Glad to hear it.
ReplyDelete