Another $700 million "missing", another high end Wall Street firm scrambling, markets dipping.....

October 31, 2011 8:05 PM

Another Wall Street firm has "lost" $700million (at least) and is scrambling for explanations. They might have used customer funds to cover losses on their own trades. Why does this stuff keep happening?!
posted by skepticallypleased (17 comments total)

Why does this stuff keep happening?!

The reasons are many, I'm sure, but they mostly have to do with greed and corruption.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:06 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Because we let them pay Congress to legalize it.
posted by CarlRossi at 8:07 PM on October 31, 2011 [5 favorites]

It's not clear how much they 'lost' at this point. Some of it may be tied up in accounts at other institutions who failed to deliver it in a timely manner because of concerns over MF's viability.
posted by unSane at 8:07 PM on October 31, 2011

That makes me feel better about the 20$ beer I bought on my 19th birthday.
posted by mannequito at 8:08 PM on October 31, 2011

Epony—... hm.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 8:08 PM on October 31, 2011

(The nightmare scenario is that they raided client accounts to subsidize their trading account. They bet big on European debt, which has not actually declined in value that much, but the increasing risk of default led to a series of margin calls, which is what doomed them).
posted by unSane at 8:08 PM on October 31, 2011

What we need here is less regulation.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:09 PM on October 31, 2011 [7 favorites]

Why do these thieves keep stealing things?
posted by TrialByMedia at 8:10 PM on October 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

Yeah, it's really weird that we let these psychopaths keep doing what they've always done and this happens time and again.
posted by maxwelton at 8:16 PM on October 31, 2011

I'm shocked - shocked! - to find that gambling is going on in here!

(Here are your winnings, sir.)
posted by hippybear at 8:16 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

Why does this stuff keep happening?!

Because executive pay keeps rising.
posted by zomg at 8:18 PM on October 31, 2011

Did they look on the table by the front door? Sometimes I leave stuff there when I get home, then forget where I put it.
posted by box at 8:18 PM on October 31, 2011 [3 favorites]

Hoocoodanode?
posted by ryoshu at 8:20 PM on October 31, 2011

Why does this stuff keep happening?!

Because they know they'll never be prosecuted.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:21 PM on October 31, 2011

The reasons [...] mostly have to do with greed and corruption.

I'd say that they have to do with lack of regulation. The ability to move, hide and lose money has far outstripped society, or the individual's ability to keep track of, or regulate, it.
posted by meinvt at 8:23 PM on October 31, 2011

Why mutual/hedge funds are still so in vogue is puzzling to a very novice, conservative investor like me. Like a Random Walk Down Wall Street shows -- arbitrary diversification beats pretty much any actively managed asset over the long run. ETFs and the like let you get at such diversification without the transaction costs (the lifestyles of the Wall Streeters who will suffer far less if this loss is true than their investors) of "actively managed" funds. Even for hedge funds, it seems those guys know to get out before their clients.
posted by skepticallypleased at 8:25 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

This usually isn't the part where they point out that the market is actually granny's utility stocks that pay her dividends.

And the prosecution thing.
posted by dglynn at 8:27 PM on October 31, 2011