Damn the facts, full speed ahead. The opposition to the merger of the NYSE and NASD enforcement divisions continues. The St. Lousi Post-Dispatch has a post bashing the merger as being good for bad brokers, and bad for customers.
Calling the NASD and NYSE regulators "Deputy Dog meets Scooby Doo", "hapless", "inadequate" and a case of the fox guarding the hen house, the article demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the securities regulatory process, or a refusal to acknowledge the process.
The post is consumed with the concept that two overlaping regulators with duplicate rules is better than one consolidated regulator, with the same level of staffing, and one set of rules.
They do mention, in passing, that Joseph Borg, the President of the NASAA, and one of the toughest state regulators in the country, gave the merger his "blessing" but then promply ignore that fact.
The reality is that we will all have to wait and see the actual proposal before bashing it, or praising it. At first glance, a consolidated regulatory agency will be more efficient, and have more funds at its disposal, which should be a benefit to the industry and the investing public.
