SQUAWKING AT THE C.O.
1.. Harry Jones defends DSS spending probe: Jones is daily digging deeper in the hole of credibility deficit. How dumb does he think we are? He can account for all of the spending, but can't offer assurance that it was spent as intended or that a misappropriation occured? Ergo, he does not know what "account for the spending" means. Larger issue: Claiming expense control, City and County government spends far too little on compliance audits. They have tomes and binders of procedures, but do you think anyone ever measures compliance with them? I saw first hand that they do not. Penny wise and pound foolish.
2. SEC has let some Wall Street firms off the hook. The expression "moral hazard" does not seem to light anyone's fire inside the Beltway. When companies get so big that they are too big to fail, the government needs them more than they need the government. "Too Big to Fail" means "Fiefdom of those that make up the rules as they go along; locus of power for those who can get away with anything; and, juggernaut of imprudent risk." One of the real failings of the Bush Administration was the muzzling of the SEC. If they had been allowed to do their jobs according to the laws we already have, the sub-prime crisis would have been a fraction of what it became.
3. B of A repays TARP money. Every time I read a headline like this, I find a contradiction in the story. They keep threatening to repay, but have not yet. This latest salvo is an equity issue (converts) that is still subject to shareholder approval.