When Companies Dealing in Paper Dreams Post Fabulous Profits in This Bad Economy

In good times of the past, we were so enamored of free enterprise that we inadvertently installed some guys on high pedestals as Gods without ever questioning what they were dealing with.

Any guy who showed profits in paper was praised as a prophet of free enterprise.

The Enron debacle did raise the earliest warning that after all some big companies were lying and even their high profile accounting firms may be covering up actual losses.

There was a hue and cry followed by some judicial, legislative and regulatory actions. Then we totally forgot about it.

But Enron was just the tip of the iceberg.

Exit of Enron and Anderson made us feel with overconfidence that everything was done that needed be done.

That smugness led to complacency. And that gave cover for other liars to continue with their cheating games.

In fact, they became so bold in cheating Americans that they started selling worthless papers throughout the world making promises about the mortgage obligations which ordinary Americans signed with their local banks and not with those paper sellers.

And the rest is history.

But now they are back to their old games. They have started posting not just profits but fabulous profits. From what?

The question is who are their customers who had the naivete to part with own money to profit such swindlers, that too in this bad economy.

Many Americans may be aware that European financial and regulatory watchdogs have slammed the severest restrictions on their banking and financial institutions in dealing with financial instruments originated by American "know-all-bankers" who have impoverished their own countrymen on this side of the Atlantic.

So, if any American financial institution is claiming that they have fabulous profits from abroad, that probably is a lie.

Local companies are downsizing and trying to conserve their money. Some may not survive this economic downturn without government help. Nobody will want to start new companies under such circumstances. So it is not possible to generate money from investment banking activities here at home like before .

Then why they are lying to us:

They know that this is the best time to dump their "pumped up" stocks on unsuspecting Americans.
And if they wait any more, their holdings may fall to abysmal levels to single digits.

So any claims of unrealistic profits are just an eyewash to make Americans part with their remaining pennies by raising fall hopes.

I am not surprised. Wall Street knows only one thing - make money in boom and bust even if it means telling Americans lies and stealing their hard-earned money.

Let not their past jacked-up track records or high profile status or educational qualifications beguile anybody again - they are not Gods but are as human as you and me, and now find it difficult to afford their past lifestyles. So they are back to their old games.

Free enterprise is a noble ideal and worthy cause. It never means telling lies and cheating people.