The Latest in US Terrorism Stupidity
The biggest boogie man of this millennium, the evil terrorist, is at it again and successfully terrorizing the unsuspecting.
This time coming from the direction of the US Securities and Exchange Comission (a.k.a SEC) with a brilliant insight to expose organizations that are indirectly subsidizing terrorist states (according to the Americans these countries include Cuba, North-Korea, Sudan, Syria and Iran).
The smart minds at SEC come up with a great idea -- scan the regulatory filings of the listed companies for the country names in question and flag accordingly. No investor should ever have to wonder whether his or her investments or retirement savings are indirectly subsidizing a terrorist haven or genocidal state, says the SEC chairman.
Great. Thanks for looking after our interests, Mr. Chairman.
In due process, SEC proceeds to flag some pretty common names -- indirectly subsidizing terrorism and genocide include such companies as Nokia, Unilever, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Siemens, ABB and Total.
Uh-oh, I'm either a customer or a stock holder of more than one terrorist supporter. Crap.
Some of the companies listed are pretty pissed off publicly. The others decline to comment -- one can only wonder the level of disbelief felt behind closed doors. SEC aimed carefully and placed a perfect shot right through its own foot. Hard to believe that one, it is.
Some phone lines are certainly getting busy. Some might even get a good laugh out of it -- after all it is pretty funny. Right idea, horrible (borderline hilarious) execution.
In the end, the message will be delivered to Mr. Chairman either by the companies listed or the US exchanges themselves -- it is damaging to all parties involved, including the US-based retirement investor. Update the list or watch the stock exchange business continue to drift over to other exchanges, the ones less inclined to embarrass their customers.
So far this year, 14 of the world's 15 biggest IPOs were listed outside of the U.S. With a crippling SOX, larger fees and now this, is it any wonder why?
Update (22.7.2007): SEC has now taken their list off line, 3 weeks after I wrote the original post where I suspected they would. The SEC link below will now lead to a statement from the SEC chairman announcing that their web tool is going under "restructuring".
This time coming from the direction of the US Securities and Exchange Comission (a.k.a SEC) with a brilliant insight to expose organizations that are indirectly subsidizing terrorist states (according to the Americans these countries include Cuba, North-Korea, Sudan, Syria and Iran).
The smart minds at SEC come up with a great idea -- scan the regulatory filings of the listed companies for the country names in question and flag accordingly. No investor should ever have to wonder whether his or her investments or retirement savings are indirectly subsidizing a terrorist haven or genocidal state, says the SEC chairman.
Great. Thanks for looking after our interests, Mr. Chairman.
In due process, SEC proceeds to flag some pretty common names -- indirectly subsidizing terrorism and genocide include such companies as Nokia, Unilever, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Siemens, ABB and Total.
Uh-oh, I'm either a customer or a stock holder of more than one terrorist supporter. Crap.
Some of the companies listed are pretty pissed off publicly. The others decline to comment -- one can only wonder the level of disbelief felt behind closed doors. SEC aimed carefully and placed a perfect shot right through its own foot. Hard to believe that one, it is.
Some phone lines are certainly getting busy. Some might even get a good laugh out of it -- after all it is pretty funny. Right idea, horrible (borderline hilarious) execution.
In the end, the message will be delivered to Mr. Chairman either by the companies listed or the US exchanges themselves -- it is damaging to all parties involved, including the US-based retirement investor. Update the list or watch the stock exchange business continue to drift over to other exchanges, the ones less inclined to embarrass their customers.
So far this year, 14 of the world's 15 biggest IPOs were listed outside of the U.S. With a crippling SOX, larger fees and now this, is it any wonder why?
Update (22.7.2007): SEC has now taken their list off line, 3 weeks after I wrote the original post where I suspected they would. The SEC link below will now lead to a statement from the SEC chairman announcing that their web tool is going under "restructuring".
- Swiss firms irritated over SEC blacklist (Added 2nd July, 2007)
- SEC terrorism site draws outrage (Added 2nd July, 2007)
- IPO Fees in Europe Catch Wall Street (Added 2nd July, 2007)
- SEC: State Sponsors of Terrorism (Added 3rd July, 2007)
- Political Mavens: Pressure companies doing business with terrorist states by Judith A. Klinghoffer (Added 3rd July, 2007)
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