Markopolos: The SEC Is A Bunch of Idiots

Harry Markopolos, who warned the SEC years ago that Bernie Madoff was a scammer, is out with a new book, "No One Would Listen,"

Thus, he is cranking up the noise level.

According to HuffPo:

Markopolos, who avoids the limelight and tends to hang up on reporters, is lashing out at the new leadership of the Securities and Exchange Commission....Asked about SEC chair Mary Shapiro and her stated determination to catch fraud on Wall Street, Markopolos tells the upcoming New York Times magazine that "she has the wrong staff. They're a bunch of idiots there." In particular, he criticizes the five commissioners of the SEC, who are securities lawyers, claiming that they don't understand finance and that the agency is over-lawyered.

He also was not impressed with Schapiro when he met with her last year, calling her "coldly polite" and saying that her general counsel David Becker "was getting ready to come across the coffee table and strangle me."

The SEC has no chance against the evil ones that try to get close to the agency. They are much smarter and slicker than the SEC, and really run circles around them. That's probably how it goes at most agencies, except that at the SEC it's obvious.

Outside of posing for the media in a few high profile, but dubious cases, the SEC does nothing. The entire concept of the SEC as watchdog of the markets is a joke.

They are a major hindrance to small companies attempting to raise capital. That's it.

If the agency was closed down and all the employees ended up as taxi cab drivers, The economy would probably grow by an extra 5% annually, given the SEC wouldn't be around to harass small, non-politically connected companies.