Federal Regulatory Agencies effective at all?

[RadioRaheem84]

Things like the SEC and the FTC? Are they even functional or are they useless arms that control the dominate ideology by weeding out the "bad apples"?

What do businessmen or people in the Investment world (I-bankers) really think of the SEC? If this agency was created for the purpose of restoring public trust in the stock market after the great depression, then why is it sometimes looked at as being too regulatory by rags like the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek?

I really appreciate the patience you guys have with several of my questions. :laugh:

[RadioRaheem84]

Is this such an uninformed question?

[jake williams]

If the SEC wasn't supported by large sections of the business/official/capital classes, there's no way it would exist. I don't know the details though.

[RadioRaheem84]

I believe that the powers shift from being pro-regulatory to relaxing regulations depending on head Commissioner. After one bill that passed during the Enron crisis, several Business rags derided the SEC for being anti-corporate.

What do you guys believe is the overall feeling of people in the business and Investment world with the SEC?

[RadioRaheem84]

bump

[bezdomni]

There's no such thing as "bad apples"; the system is rotten at the core.

The problem we have isn't some corporations breaking the laws or being "bad guys", because the laws themselves are a part of bourgeois society. The problem is capitalism...and no amount of "weeding out the bad apples" is going to change it or even make it better.

[jake williams]

There's no such thing as "bad apples"; the system is rotten at the core.

The problem we have isn't some corporations breaking the laws or being "bad guys", because the laws themselves are a part of bourgeois society. The problem is capitalism...and no amount of "weeding out the bad apples" is going to change it or even make it better.
I disagree with this in the strict sense - I think we can have better or worse capitalist societies - it's just that even the best are unacceptable.

[bezdomni]

I disagree with this in the strict sense - I think we can have better or worse capitalist societies - it's just that even the best are unacceptable.

better or worse for who? the international proletariat?

[jake williams]

better or worse for who? the international proletariat?
Yes, for the whole society. All of them will be horrible, but you can have degrees of horrible, and that's not insignificant.

[Comrade Rage]

Yes, for the whole society. All of them will be horrible, but you can have degrees of horrible, and that's not insignificant.I agree. It's DEFINITELY better to live under a capitalist society in, say, Europe as opposed to Russia.

[gilhyle]

I also disagree with the bad apples view. There are of course bad apples. But capitalism works on the basis of business being conducted in accordance with its rules. There is a difference between those who obey the rules and those who do not.

As to the SEC, the State has always (including all pre-capitalist states) regulated markets. The question of how effective the SEC is, is a question for the ruling class - there are better and worse ways to run regulation within capitalism and they debate among themselves how best to do it. Its all very interesting to watch, but why do you raise the question here ?