March 17, 2004
I am in full support of full disclosure. The SEC has known about the problems in the securities industry for a very long time. A book Where are all the customers yachts from the 1950s describes many instances of what could generally be called fraud. The general public lack the knowledge and the time to fully understand what goes on after an order is placed. It is clear brokers trade stock in the grey market. Additionally, kick backs from mutual funds are a disgrace to the industry. 12b-1 fees should clearly be removed. It is absurd that an individual purchasing a mutual fund actual pay for its marketing and then pay for a commission. The people in the securities industry have had it very well for a very long time. It is time to bring them back to earth. After market trading cannot be performed by the individual investor but it is the individual investor that gets burned by the cost of the fund and then by the poor management of the fund. Mutual fund managers and especially the directors of the family of funds need to take responsiblity for their funds. There needs to be some dis-incentive to steal from their clients. We have lost tons of money and in many cases jobs due to high-flying securites people. Please stop this insanity.