Spitzer Just A Shakedown Artist
from the you-tell-'em dept
Earlier today I complained about the Merrill Lynch settlement for being toothless and unlikely to change a thing. Dan Gillmor does a much better job trashing the agreement. He points out the most important point: out of this $100 million settlement, the people who got screwed by the lying and misleading analysts of Merrill Lynch get a grand total of $0. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Gillmor says New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is just another government shake-down artist, getting these firms to pay up a fine that goes directly into the government coffers - and not the people harmed by the actions. It was a weak move by Spitzer, who previously had indicated he really wanted to make a difference. Too bad he couldn't follow through.
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Not shocked.
At this time its more profitable to break the law and pay the fine. Look at SBC, Microsoft, and now this as examples.
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