The SEC Acts on a Vital Issue (in its usual way)

I neglected to mention yesterday that the SEC acted, in its usual half-hearted way, on an issue of massive importance to investors. That issue, of course, is soft dollars -- in which money managers pay sky-high commissions, which they pass on to their customers, in return for goodies of various kinds.

The SEC has meandered around this multifaceted issue, which I dealt with in Wall Street Versus America, and kept meandering at its meeting yesterday. Rather than take meaningful action and discomfit the Street, the regulators disallowed the use of soft dollars for computer equipment and office furniture. Nice of them.

Oh, and I got a call from a reporter asking me about something else -- something about, oh I dunno.... naked shorting I think it was? Yeah, the SEC also tossed a bone at the politically influential blame-shifting CEOs who are trying to make hay from that nonexistent scandal. Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn. I was quoted accurately, which is the important thing.

© 2006 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.

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Wall Street Versus America was published by Penguin USA on April 6.
Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site.