September 15, 2004
I find it unfathomable the SEC has pushed forward in this attempt to further its regulatory reach as regards hedge fund managers. The SEC has obvious issues which came to light as part of the mutual fund and corporate scandals it needs to address before it should even consider extending its reach to thousands of other investment advisors who are funded purely by rich people and institutions which surely have the resources to protect themselves.
As a US taxpayer, I would prefer that the SEC spend its resources on ensuring mutual funds which service the normal investor like me were conducting their activities in the most upstanding way.
To say that the SEC would have found the late trading scandal if it was regulating hedge fund advisors is ludicrous when it had ultimate oversight of mutual funds and couldnt find a thing even when shown the light of day by disgruntled mutual fund employees.
Havent we learned in the last 30 years that full force regulation doesnt work? Airlines, telephone and now mutual funds? Wake up SEC, any more scandals under your watch, and the public will be clamoring for an explanation on why the SEC doesnt work and whether we need IT at all...