Time for change? Or business as usual?

What is to say?

At one of the first times since Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Wachcovia Bank, Lehman Bros., and a host of other’s decided to rely on sham tactics or cheating, some basic fraud schemes has been finally identified and rather than go in and start putting these people where they belong, there seems to be a collusionary effort going on to diffuse the situation before it gets too much more public.

Where is the outrage! On Friday afternoon Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman, Mary Shapiro, issuing strong threats as to what would happen if this ‘insider trading’ and so-called ‘flash orders’ didn’t stop immediately.

 Oh if it could only be so true — rather than stand up and say, ‘Hey! What’s going on over there? I’m sending a team of regulators up there from Congress to find out and we are intent on this — if traditional compliance is not being met, we’re going to shut them down.’

Folks realistically, how long are these huge, fat, and greedy organizations (and politicians) going to continue to rip of the American public before someone in authority says, “Enough!”

Flash Orders are a means by which certain members of the trading community get the buy and sell order information for milliseconds prior to that information being made available to the public. Using high-speed computer software enables those involved to see and trade ahead of the actual order being made public; therefore, all involved has the opportunity to gain advanced knowledge of buying and selling activity.

And at whose expense? The public, or John and Mary Dooright’s retirement account, 401K, mutual funds, and of course your regular person like you who is reading this article. The following are some of the highlights that Sen. Schumer sent to SEC Chairperson Mary Shapiro:

“Asked that federal securities regulators crack down on high-speed computing advantage that large financial firms have over other investors. “The integrity of our capital markets is being compromised by the ability of some insiders to view order information before it is available to the entire market. “This allows them to profit from that information at the expence of other investors.” (Ya’ think?)

Furthermore Schumer states in his letter to Mary Shapiro, “If the SEC fails to curb this practice, I plan to introduce legislation in the U.S. Senate to prohibit the use of flash orders…” Oh heck yeah…that ought to do it Chuck! For all intents and purposes let’s admittedly say the markets (Wall Street) went down around December — January 2008-09. What has anyone been doing since that time to clean the place up? (Click here for more of the story.)

Folks! Are we playing politics here, or is it political correctness? Get this one too: Mary Shapiro, the Chairperson of the SEC is the very same Mary Shapiro who used to head the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the U.S. public. The same FINRA that came under intense scrutiny pursuant to how and why Wall Street ever got into the position it was in including how one man, Madoff, could possibly go unnoticed absconding over 50 billion dollars! (Click here for essential reading!)

Shapiro has noted that flash orders do create a lack of transparency that could cause suspicion and specualation, and cut the public out of the mix. Oh really, now? This is simply pathetic people! Please look at Mary Shapiro’s bio at the SEC (here click) and let me know what difference(s) exist between her career and that of Bernie Madoff’s.

Okay then…Martha it’s okay to get peeved; you ought to sue at least to recover your legal fees and lost earning potential. Seriously folks, this is disgusting!