Even judges are sent to school before they take the bench. For the last few decades, every catastrophic economic event has been the direct result of the declining use of experts and the politicization of bare-bones facts. It was not malpractice tor repeal the Glass Steagall act or to waive the normal and customary rules governing the issuance of securities when it came to “derivatives” that were so broadly defined that it is difficult to imagine how any security is subject to SEC regulation.
The problem is that people employed by the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch of government are making laws, rules, and doctrines and acting on them — all without an iota of knowledge of the subject. The only instruction they seek is how to vote, and they receive those instructions from the “establishment” — i.e., people with seniority and equal ignorance.
In fact, in many cases, the vote is cast by a congressman or senator without ever reading the proposed legislation If they read anything, it is a cheat sheet that was not prepared by the authors of the legislation or rule.
When Clinton signed that legislation in 1998 and 1999, he opened Pandora’s box — not just because he and all the legislators didn’t understand the potential consequences, but because none of them knew what Wall Street meant when they said they would issue derivatives as private contracts. It was pure nonsense. But that is what let the tigers out of the cage, and we are still recovering from the undermining of the foundation of our economy.
Undermining that recovery is the continuing practice of issuing “securities ” certificates that are not regulated under that waiver of existing law. And further undermining that recovery are the hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and judgments obtained by parties who have no legally recognized interest in any debt, note or lien.
We are the frog in the pot of water. The heat is turning up, and we won’t ever appreciate the damage we are causing ourselves because, by that time of reckoning, the economy will have reached the boiling point. Free market forces are not working, the “market” for derivatives is not free. If we want to get on sound footing again, we must take draconian steps to shut down the worst players and force others to play by the original rules that enabled this country to prosper.
The recent FTX scandal was the product of diminishing regulation and diminished understanding of the markets that serve as part of the foundation of this country. If lawyers and doctors and other professionals must continue their education and get training before they embark on some project, then so too should our public servants. And that should be at the expense of the government and not the private sector.
Filed under: foreclosure |
They should be qualified from the onset…so many of these elected officials are way out of their lane. The incompetence is stunning.
OMG!!! AMEN!
One question …How do the laymen do that ? God only knows some have been trying to deaf ears! So we and I thank you for the facts.