I know that some people here like to get hung up on literal interpretations and stated missions, but they really shouldn't. (Sorry, can't get into it here.)
For many reasons, there isn't a lot of good that would come from them making a big deal about this among the general public. Feel free to see my earlier post.[1]
Seriously, how is a public SEC investigation going to benefit the "integrity" of the system and "inspire confidence among investors"?
If the story is both fake and some grand market manipulating plot, most people involved are 1) going to hope that the public forgets that this story ever was; and 2) deal w/this privately.
But since some clearly disagree, I eagerly await your well-informed case.
> would most likely be praised for finding it. It is a huge discovery.
Seriously, history, recent and otherwise, is littered w/the ghosts and carcasses of employees who were anything but rewarded for identifying problems great and small.
Oftentimes the safest thing to do is to pretend that one saw/heard/knows nothing while hoping that someone else has the steel to sound the alarm.
And for this sort of situation, there's too much at stake and are too many known and unknown stakeholders involved to blindly believe that this would be an exception to what I wrote above.
On a separate but related note, for those playing the "conspiracy theory" game:
- On October 4th, Bloomberg releases The Big Hack story; and
- On the same day, VP Pence gives a speech at the Hudson Institute about...? China being a bad actor which indulges in all sorts of behavior (that the United States would never ever engage in or condone).[1]
Factor in the "trade war" and long-ongoing attempts to 'encourage' companies to rethink their supply chains/ relocate production...
From the article: "The broadside against China — which is planned to be both rhetorical and substantive — will be "administration-wide,"" [emphasis added] ""The push is coming from the national security apparatus," the source added."
Personally, I hope no products are compromised, ever. That's probably not the case, and either way, the average person won't care much in the short term. Busy w/other stuff, they probably don't remember this story today, if they even heard about it. Businessweek is, after all, a business magazine targeted at a pretty specific audience.
As for whether Bloomberg's story is part of a wider campaign, I don't know and don't believe I've said otherwise. It doesn't really matter to me, as I know that a game is on and that it isn't unreasonable to use such a story while playing. I've seen and heard all sorts of curious things in the last few years. Nothing about today's environment tells me that I'll have fewer such occurrences.
I don't think that such results qualify as unintended consequences. I somehow ended up attending a meeting at Treasury on some existing tax credit program. Other than me, everyone attending seemed to be some sort of insider and nearly everyone seemed to know each other.
So, to my way of thinking, an unintended consequence would be some no-name schmuck being the one to systematize and beat the known quantities at the game. (IMHO)
Au contrair. mon ami. Office workers are busy keeping themselves in the office, which means that the vacation spots, and such are riffraff-free for their betters until the next major holiday break.
That's quite useful.
> * Why does anyone in an office put up with it??*
The "prestige" of not being, ahem, blue collar.
But to be fair, there are some things in life from which you and/or one's offspring will/would be locked out if one's money comes from the wrong place(s). That said, this doesn't apply to most people. So, see my initial sentence.
While it may be, I found it difficult to get into. I felt like I was reading a long rant that was peppered w/ interesting facts here and there. I put it down years ago with the intent to try again. I've not gotten back to it yet.
A book I recommend that does touch on the S&L scandal is Lying for Money (Dan Davies). The Outlaw Bank (Beaty & Gwynne) was also an awesome read.
As for the greater topic of white collar crime, it's a key ingredient of the cake, forever to be baked in. My professional advise to folks is simply to be aware of that and act accordingly. Can't say much more than that on the matter.
