May 26, 2011
I’m writing because after fifty years of education, teaching college students, rearing a family, and investing so I could retire, I haven't seen a positive annual investment statement in three years.
The incentives for Wall Street bankers, CEOs, and fund managers seem to work perfectly.... Scheme, hide facts, bet on the losers, and roll in obscene personal profits! Where's the down side of that? It is the side that those investors who believed that regulatory systems, and our government representatives would hold everyone to the same rules and penalties. Why can't that be done?
One way to change the incentives so Wall Street doesn’t collapse our economy again would be for regulators to set up a way for shareholders to grab back ill-gotten gains.
If it turns out that the profits in a given year were built on shoddy practices that become clear in the out-years, those bonus payments should be forfeited.
Thank you for considering my comment,
Helen James
Durango, CO