“占领华尔街”运动何去何从
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周一，我接到一位记者来电，询问我日前发表的博文《占领华尔街者“应该”占领华盛顿》(Occupy Wall Street' Should 'Occupy Washington)。我过去曾和这位记者有过多次讨论，因此欣然接受了她关于“占领华尔街者应有何样诉求”的提问。 但在给出意见之前，我首先声明我希望这些示威活动不要引发社会骚乱和暴力行为。美国需要很多东西，但肯定不需要暴乱。 我们讨论到了这场运动似乎缺乏领导。我表达了我的担忧，我担心得到工会支持的民主党可能会企图劫持这场运动。之后，我们还谈到这场运动的口号都是些陈词滥调，行动也缺乏组织性，显示这场运动似乎对华尔街真正的内在运作及其与华盛顿的裙带关系了解有限。 因此，她问到若要推动这场运动，进一步追求真相、透明度和良知，我会给出三个怎样的建议？我向来在推动真相、透明度和良知方面毫不扭捏，因此我给出了下列建议： 1. 迫使华尔街自律监管机构——美国金融业监管局(Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, 以下简称FINRA)公开账簿和记录。如果能像我长期以来呼吁的那样，FINRA不得不提供真正的透明度，占领华尔街运动以及所有美国人都会对华尔街与华盛顿的裙带关系了解多多。我从2009年初起就多次明确表态，FINRA必须公开账簿和记录。 FINRA的会员公司也曾呼吁该自律监管机构提供真正意义上的透明度，但对于这些呼声FINRA理事会大多只是口头敷衍了事。 2. 假如占领华尔街运动能要求彻底曝光笼罩着标售利率证券市场的阴谋伎俩，那可就帮了美国的大忙了。占领华尔街运动和美国有1,000亿个理由要求这样的透明度——投资者账户中依然遭冻结的标售利率证券高达1,000亿美元。别忘了，标售利率证券当初可是作为“现金替代物”售出的。 3.为什么占领华尔街运动和美国应就第1、第2点问责？原因很简单，华尔街的华盛顿伙伴们在这两方面表现不力，尽管很多个人以及包括非营利性政府监督组织Project on Government Oversight在内的组织都曾奔走呼号。 为什么华盛顿未能问责华尔街？你不觉得华尔街为华盛顿两党提供的竞选捐款和其他支持可能阻碍了我们对透明度的追求吗？我要感谢前文提到的记者为我指明了方向，即追踪美国政治现金流的研究机构Center for Responsive Politics （网址：OpenSecrets.org）。 下面让我们参照Open Secrets.org收集的信息，看看华盛顿的几位重量级人物与华尔街之间究竟的渊源到底有多深。 • 查克•舒默(民主党议员-纽约州) • 斯宾塞-巴克斯(共和党议员-阿拉斯加州) • 巴尼•弗兰克(民主党议员-马萨诸塞州) • 克里斯•多德(民主党议员-康涅狄格州) • 巴拉克•奥巴马 • 约翰•博纳(共和党议员-俄亥俄州) 不妨点击上述链接，看看证券投资界为他们在华盛顿的伙伴们提供了多少支持以及这种支持到底有多频繁。 有没有人赞成对竞选经费制度进行实质性的改革？要不要修改竞选筹款法规的条款限制？各位觉得从提高透明度，保证信息真实性入手怎么样？现在华尔街和华盛顿之间的裙带关系简直臭不可闻。 真实情况请大家自行按图索骥吧。 Larry是资深华尔街人士，曾就职于第一波士顿(First Boston)、贝尔斯登(Bear Stearns)和Union Bank等银行。个人博客地址是www.senseoncents.com |
I received a call yesterday from a reporter inquiring about my recent post Occupy Wall Street' Should 'Occupy Washington. Having had a number of previous discussions with this reporter, I welcomed her question as to what I thought the OWS movement should look to achieve or demand. I prefaced my comments by stating that I hope civil unrest and random violence do not come from these demonstrations. America needs a lot of things but we certainly do not need riots. We discussed the seeming lack of leadership within the movement. I expressed my concern that I believe the Democratic Party supported by its friends in labor unions may look to hijack the movement. From there we discussed the fact that promoting platitudes and wanton generalities highlights the fact that the movement would seem to have a limited understanding of the real inner workings of Wall Street and its incestuous relationship with Washington. To that end, she asked what three proposals I would put forth to advance this movement and the pursuit of of truth, transparency and integrity. Never one to be bashful when it comes to elevating these virtues, I offered the following: 1. Compel the Wall Street self-regulator FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) to open its books and records. The OWS movement and all of America would learn a LOT about the incestuous nature of the relationship between Wall Street and Washington if FINRA were forced to provide real transparency as I have called for so often. Starting in early 2009 and repeatedly since then I have stated unequivocally that FINRA Must Open Its Books and Records. FINRA's own member firms called for real meaningful transparency from this self-regulatory organization and largely received lip service from FINRA's board in response. 2. The OWS movement would do America a favor if it called for a thorough exposition of the scam that encompassed the auction-rate securities market. OWS and America have approximately 100 billion reasons to pursue this transparency, that being the approximate dollar value of the ARS which remain frozen in investor accounts. Please recall that ARS were sold as 'cash surrogates'. 3. Why should OWS and America demand accountability on points 1 and 2? For the very simple reason that Wall Street's incestuous partners in Washington have failed to perform despite efforts and overtures made by many individuals and organizations, including the Project on Government Oversight. Why might those in Washington fail to pursue their counterparts on Wall Street? Do you think the campaign contributions and other means of support provided by Wall Street for those in Washington on both sides of the aisle may impede our pursuit of transparency? I thank the aforementioned reporter for pointing me in the direction of OpenSecrets.org Center for Responsive Politics. So let's check in on a few of our Washington heavyweights and see just how deeply in bed they are with the crowd on Wall Street by referencing Open Secrets.org great work. • Chuck Schumer (D-NY) • Spencer Bachus (R-AL) • Barney Frank (D-MA) • Chris Dodd (D-CT) • John Boehner (R-OH) Please review these links and see how much and how often Securities and Investment Firms have provided backing for their incestuous partners in Washington. Anybody for meaningful campaign finance reform? How about term limits? What do you say we just start with a little bit of transparency and a healthy dose of the truth? The stench of this incest is overwhelming. Navigate accordingly. Larry is a Wall Street veteran, having worked at such banks as First Boston, Bear Stearns and Union Bank. He blogs at www.senseoncents.com |
