Quote:
Originally Posted by Xellos-_^
anyone ask Sean Penn and Danny Glover about their good buddy Chavez lately?
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Well, who is to say that Chavez' march to restrict human rights couldn't have been prevented if he was handled differently? Instead of offering him a constructive path to normal relations with democracies, he was threatened with assassination (by Pat Robertson), and
literally kidnapped by the Venezuelan equivalent of Fox News. Needless to say, the US government (especially under GWB) made no attempts to strengthen Venezuelan civil society, because that civil society had elected a leftist. What happens when you corner a rat?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Rambo
I'm not sure it's fair to characterize every criticism of the SEC to politically oriented attacks.
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And the SEC apparently intentionally ignored many cases that were brought to them; Bernie Madoff was only the biggest. But they also relaxed a variety of restrictions (such as the "uptick rule") that increased the size of the financial market meltdown.
The thing I would be concerned about, however, is using these stories to say, "see, you can't effectively regulate the financial industry." As some on the right are doing. As far as I'm concerned, regulators who don't do their jobs should be punished harshly. This holds double for the heads of regulatory agencies who encourage lax attitudes by their employees. As such the culpability of Christopher Cox (SEC chair from 2005-2009) should be examined.