SEC — (Paid) Training Facility For Big(er) Paying Jobs

July 10, 2009

Over the past several months we’ve all probably heard many in the news media making excuses for the Securities and Exchange Commission (and other regulatory agencies) for their failures to properly oversee the financial industry. The attitude by these defenders seems to be ‘it’s not their fault’. And the reason given is always the same — those poor agency employees are not properly compensated.

Upon returning yesterday after a week away on personal family business, I turned on my TV to find out how the market had performed during my absence. Naturally, the channel was right where I left it was when I turned it off a week ago — on CNBC.

Call it purely coincidental or some sort of psychic event in my timing of turning on the TV, but Jim Cramer of Mad Money was just beginning his “defense” of those at the SEC for not doing their job. He went on and on about why they had not been regulating the financial industry, and he insisted they probably would continue not doing their job. Cramer’s fix (as well as the many other defenders) is to pay them huge bonus — not said: ‘to do the job they are already being paid to do’.

I have to give Cramer due credit for not beating around the bush on his feelings on the matter. He openly admitted what the regulators will not own up to — ‘I’m not going to do the job I am paid to do unless I get some additional huge reward’. In other words, ‘I’m here only to draw a pay check until you agree to reward me’.

Cramer rightfully pointed out that regulators are not going to pursue any possible criminal activity by the same industry they plan to get a big-money job from when they leave the regulatory agency. He used this fact as his “justification” to levy huge bonuses (yea, sure — that’ll work). But not once did he mention, or even insinuate, that enforces of our laws has a fiduciary responsibility to our country and its citizens to do the job they were hired to do without further monetary consideration. Hell, the next thing you know, our city, county, state, and national law enforcement officials will be demanding huge rewards in addition to their regular pay checks if we expect them to pursue bank robbers, murderer’s, rapist, etc.

Maybe the problem is me. I suppose my morals of yesterday just don’t fit in with the 21^st century. That is to say, in my day I made an agreement with my prospective employer — ‘if I accept the job and the pay you are offering, I will perform the job to the best of my abilities’. And there was also a silent, understood incentive — ‘do the job you were hired to do and you get to keep your job’. But with the SEC (and others), it seems to be ‘come on in!!. We’ll pay you to do nothing so you can build a relationship with an industry that will lead to a bigger paying job’.