So, Bill, Tell Us How You Really Feel.

September 23, 2008

Every so often, someone gets it right. This time, Forbes.com editor David Serchuk not only hit the nail on the head but drove the damn thing through the two-by-four and into the very heart of the matter. In his just published piece: Death of the Capital Markets, Serchuk asked some of the day's tough questions to a three-person industry panel of Lana Hock of Robert W. Baird & Co., Joe Battipaglia of Stifel Nicolaus, and yours truly (Bill Singer).  What emerged from the panel is a chilling assessment of what's wrong with Wall Street and why it may not get fixed.  This is not cheerleading. This is a sober warning.

For my part, I pulled no punches.  We no longer have time to dance around in this ring. When asked to comment on why we find ourselves in the present predicament, I answered with the candor that my readers have come to expect, if not demand:

We have misfits, clowns, incompetents and cronies in control of our regulatory power. We all feel disenfranchised.

I urge you all to read this superb analysis.  The URL is

http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/09/22/investment-bank-rescue-wallst-cx_ds_0922bailoutroundtable.html