Senators Reviewing $1.4 Billion Wall Street Settlement

from the do-shareholders-deserve-returns? dept

Last week we had the big news of a "settlement" between the government and Wall Street over their years of misleading research. At the time, I wondered where all that money was going to go, and whether any of it would end up back in the hands of the individual investors who got duped. It seems I'm not alone. A number of Senators are questioning the deal - and specifically are concerned about where the money will go. While some of it is earmarked to go back to investors, other parts are being claimed by the states, who appear ready to use it to make up for some of their budgetary shortfalls. I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, if the analysts really are guilty of "duping" investors, then the money should go back to those defrauded. However, most of those individual investors were simply being greedy - and knew that they were investing in a bubble economy. It was just a situation where "everyone" was doing it, and everyone was getting rich. These investors should have done their own due diligence, and I don't have much sympathy for those who lost tons of money. So, which is it? Were the investors duped, and do they deserve some money back, or were they willing participants in the farce?

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