Not too many folks seem to be writing about the latest revelations about the mutual fund industry. Maybe it's just hard to get excited about another story of corporate America bending rules for its own advantage? But in this case, it's coming at the expense of ordinary Americans - very possibly including you, if you have a job with any kind of pension plan (a whopping ninety-five million Americans own shares of mutual funds).
What's perhaps even more troubling is that there are specific laws designed to prevent this kind of thing - they just aren't enforced. Instead, the SEC is doing surveys to find out where the problems are! We need to take this stuff a little more seriously. By letting the industry regulate itself, we're leaving massive financial incentives in play, and we've seen where those incentives lead. Unless we create some serious consequences for these crimes and actually start monitoring the industry before problems appear, we should expect more of the same.
I think most people have not really heard about the abuses or haven't understood what was going on. I was in the dark until I heard NPR this morning and I certainly don't understand the issues the way I probably should.
I was impressed that Peter Fitzgerald seemed to be lead attack dog on this issue, along with the gentleman from New York. I disagree with Fitzgerald on most issues, but I think we can all get behind ethics and financial reform in the financial industries.
I was impressed with Fitzgerald too - I think that's the first I've heard about him on the national stage, and he seems to be on the right side of things...
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