Martha Stewart Resigns

CNN ^

[RoughDobermann]

NEWS ALERT Martha Stewart resigns as CEO of her company after indictment on obstruction of justice and securities fraud charges. Details soon.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

No, actually, I pictured you having quite a lot in common with her. ; ) (I said WOMAN, Pardek! LOL)

[Moonman62]

Dow didn't do too bad, either. The market does love a good perp walk. Average is about 100 pts/perp by my calculations.

Something else is making the Dow go up like capital gains tax cuts. Until now, the Bush administration's hostility toward the private sector has put a dark cloud over what should be a vibrant, pro-risk-taking, capitalistic economy.

[wizzler]

Perhaps, if you're talking about two passive investors. But if you're talking about an investor and the CEO, then one of them has vast knowledge that the property is about to lose value. The CEO who tells his pals to get out is not guessing like the passive investor is, nor are his pals.

Let us, for the sake of discussion, grant the assumptions in your scenario here: the CEO "knows" the property is to lose value, and tells his pals, and other investors don't know.

My response is: So what? Must be nice to be a CEO. There's nothing fraudulent about this situation. No one is being ripped off. If certain people know certain information, fine. The market works on knowledge. Some people have more or better versions of it.

Life isn't fair. Or, better put, life in a free society isn't fair. That's supposed to be the difference between us and the socialists/liberals/democrats: We value freedom over equality; they value equality over freedom.

Freedom is very simple. It requires a quick Constitution and Bill of Rights. Equality is much more complicated. It requires reams and reams of complicated paperwork and attorneys and prosecutors to enforce laws that most of the people who are subject to them can't even understand.

I know which side I'm on.

[LurkerNoMore!]

No, on this, I lose, fair and square.

But with that shower/mold post, you lose in a much bigger genre.

[LurkerNoMore!]

Hey, it isn't his fault he has a body like Natalie Maines.

[Senator Pardek]

I can change!

[desertcry]

GOOD JOB!

[JLO]

"LOL! Yes they do! Thats why they call it "Insider Trading"!!

wizzler, this is exactly right! Where I used to work, one of the Board of Directors spread the word around to his sons and others. He's currently serving 7 years for insider trading.

While he and others made MILLIONS, the stock spiked to $52 then down to $12 (as I recall) in a matter of days. Who knows HOW many investors got screwed. Let alone, all of the employees who had stock options and bought; all the rest of the employees who regularly purchased for ther 401 savings fund, etc.

It major leaque wreaks havoc! That same company now trades at about $5-6, the last I checked.

Believe it - insider trading IS hurtful to the whole economy. Just telling my personal experience.

[desertcry]

Can you really blame martha for trying? The clintons got away with a lot worst.

[Amelia]

I'm not going there.

PLEASE don't make me go there.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[JLO]

Oh well, then, LOL at me!!!

[DearAbby]

I agree with you.

Those that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

[wizzler]

Where I used to work, one of the Board of Directors spread the word around to his sons and others. ... While he and others made MILLIONS, the stock spiked to $52 then down to $12 (as I recall) in a matter of days.

If the stock was going to lose value, it was going to lose value. It would have dropped no matter what. Yet the part that truly made people mad -- and the thing that earned this guy seven years in prison -- is that he "made millions."

Let's take this a step further. Let's say Tom Typical got a call from a friend on Tuesday, saying, "Hey, did you notice the stock is down to $52? Sell!" Then let's say Alex Average sat around playing video games all week, then picked up a newspaper on Friday, when the stock had dropped to $12. That's when he sold.

Tom made out a lot better than Alex, because in this situation he had better contacts, better sources, better information. Is Tom "guilty" of something? Should we be angry with him? Did Alex get "screwed"?

So where is the line where that divides "proper" information from "improper" information, exactly? There isn't one. Insider trading isn't even defined by law. It's a wholly subjective call on the part of government agents. It is a "crime" that can be committed without the realization you're even committing it.

[MeekOneGOP]

hehe ! Yep. I got it in an e-mail a long time ago. Someone did a good job makin' that!

[Senator Pardek]

Contrary to public opinion, I'm not gay.

[hunter112]

Y'know who I feel sorry for the most in all this mess? Martha's future cellmate.

Imagine, some poor drug dealer/prostitute/scam check writer being called "gauche" for using a dinner fork instead of a salad fork to make a shiv!

[Senator Pardek]

???

[LurkerNoMore!]

To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet Contrary to public opinion, I'm not gay. 115 posted on 06/04/2003 8:59 PM CDT by Senator Pardek

Funny how there is never a Second on this comment

[MissL]

This is what I find amazing, Martha may be greedy and may have been wrong but she is not like any of the other CEO's of large companies who have ruined thousands of loyal employees' lives and retirements and have not been slapped on the hind end as of yet. They still have their lives and homes and money. Why are they not in jail? I am not saying Martha is without blame I am just questioning justice. Enron just to start....many lives and our economy is in the toilet because of inflated stocks...I don't blame Martha if someone told me to get out I would. Why is it "greed" with her and "good business" for anyone else? She is a good business woman and if OJ could lawyer up so can Martha and she can pay....she will never be on the streets!!!

[cmsgop]

Yo!!!! Martha!