PANDORA’S BOX

SC: Until you start throwing these criminals in prison,nothing is going to change.

The jails are full. Nothing changes. We’ve already had four major financial scandals over the past 30 years and they keep happening.

We must change the motivation. And with capital gains taxes at an effective rate (after deductions) of 20/25% - that’s more than enough motivation to do almost anything. 

Only a revision of taxation will change that motivation - like putting the rates up to where they where (70/90%) before Reckless Ronnie pulled them down.

It was that single act that opened Pandora’s Box of Ills on both Wall Street and Main Street.

Unfortunately truth suffers hugely with “run-away journalism bent
on currying populist favor.”  The public press is wholly guilty of
accusing putting on trial and passing judgment everything in their
public offerings in their attempt to affect outcomes or commanding
directions in the way politics will go.  The pundit news shows are the
worst and are just that, shows of entertainment, not news nor really
informative of objective truth.  It is how much testosterone (including
the females who populate these shows) can be flung around.  It is
difficult to find truth and integrity in news reporting.  How do we know
what is the test for truth?  My cynicism suspects journalists are on the
same payrolls in whose pockets as those we the gullible public think
politicians reside too comfortably in.

Politicians ought not to be able to make one dime extra other than
their 3-4 times larger salary than ordinary American workers make. 
While in office their heads ought to be firmly affixed on the job they
were elected to do, represent the people, albeit their constituents for
the most part, but at times on what is most beneficial for the entire
American population.  While they have their jobs at the behest of their
electorate, it must not be ignored that politicians can instruct their
constituencies as well.  They also should be restricted from any lobby
job for five years after leaving public office.

ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT?

Insider Trading typically means having personal, non-public information, directly/indirectly from a company source regarding some impending decision/fact (to be made public) that could affect its equity value.

Unless there is some evidence of this nature, being informed by the Treasury does not constitute Insider Trading, since the Treasury (to my knowledge) is not quoted on any stock-market.

However, if Bachus somehow “shorted on T-notes” based upon privileged information from the Treasury itself, then that may be quite a different matter. But that fact remains to be seen and the information provided says nothing about the actual mechanism employed in the shorting manipulation. Or, for that matter, how much was gained.

CAVEAT: All the news that’s fit to print?

Once again, what has happened seems to be a matter of run-away journalism bent on currying populist favor. Which seems to become more and more prevalent in journalistic circles nowadays.

Painting supposed culprits guilty in the public press (including blogs) is tantamount to defamation and character assassination. Both of which simply muddy the waters and certainly does not constitute the highest quality of investigative journalism.