Barclay's Bank Guilty of Rigged Libor
Libor is arguable the world's most important Interest rate anchor in the world. Yet 3 employees of Barclays Bank were able to rig the fix. And noone else was responsible. Some regulatory buraeaucrat hung a head on his wall and got a promotion from GS3- GS5. im sure they're spraining wrists patting themselves on the back. Barclays throws 3 guys under the bus. Think about that when someone tells you Gold is never rigged.
Author: Douglas Piranha
submitted by Soren K.
Will a short bus do?
Respondeat Superior? What is that?
What is even more amazing is that they were the only ones that knew. Not their supervisors, not the executives. Of course there was no auditable forensic trail to the top. Because none existed. Brace yourselves tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists.There is no corporate evil empire that sets its policy to rig markets. It is worse than that.
It is because certain businesses sole goal is to make money. It is the culture that is to blame. Our corrupted capitalistic system. One that emphasizes profits over providing a needed service. It is the way ethics courses are taken as an afterthought. It is the CEO and CFO who does NOT question the bottom line as long as it is green. It is what we call Inverted capitalism.
Inverted Capitalism
Capitalism is where you provide a service that is needed in society. Like a Barber. You get paid for that service. your goal is to do well and as a result the capital will flow to you. If you are not good at cutting hair, you will be looking for a job quickly. That is competition. That is what libertarians and true capitalists believe in. Not saving the failures and then reducing further competition after saying the banks were TBTF. It is not killing the saplings with higher capital requirements instead of thinning the forest for more diversity. Then filling the trough for the failured firms to engorge themselves with your tax money. The systemic risk now is BIGGER than 2007.
Banks not allowed to have prop desks? Then they invest in hedge funds with their former employees and fill their client orders at the hedge fund. It's a joke. The politicians are greedy AND stupid. Dodd- Frank was passed blank becasue the Pols didnt know what to put in it. "Lets ask thebanks to help us."
Inverted Capitalism is when the goal is to make money. And if the client happen to benefit, so be it. It puts the work in the salesman's hands, not the artisan or creator/s hands. "You need this" cries the salesman to $1MM people. And for some reason you buy it. Point of sale, impulse issues, a need to be associated with status or as in these 3 guys cases, Job Security.
Capitalism is f-ed if it doesn't evolve soon. And it is in no small part because the incumbents (Elite, etc) have lobbied the politicians to build a brick wall and a moat around their monopolies. That is perversion of market structure. We are big fans of Eric Hunsader of Nanex. We are knowledgable in market structure at the macro level but are never bored reading his stuff again and again to see the micro patterns that betray the macro problems in our financial markets.
-Doug P.
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