Friday, April 30, 2010
Orthodontists and Financial Reform
This is what the debate over financial reform legislation has come down to: is an orthodontist a "significant financial player"? You decide -- read the statements by Richard Shelby and Chris Dodd on this critical issue.
Shelby: yes
Dodd: are you nuts?
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/securities/2010/04/orthodontists-and-financial-reform.html
I just saw an interview with Blankenfein on Charlie Rose.
He argues, Goldman Sachs functions in two unique capacities simultaneously: 1) dealmaker/market maker/disinterested seller of purchasing opportunities; and 2) financial advisor selling securities to its clients.
How in the world can one institution manage both of these functions simultaneously without a legal conflict of interest, violation of fiduciary duty?
Does US Securities law really permit simultaneous, inherently conflictual functions operating in one organization?
This make no sense.
To the extent securities law permits this, it is authorizing crime.
There isn't a firewall thick enough to prevent the undermining of fiduciary duties to customers in this type of arrangement.
Which again, makes no sense.
Posted by: Bee | May 3, 2010 12:55:47 PM