October 11, 2008

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day


Again, where were (and where are) the auditors?

Bonus: And isn't violating Sarbanes-Oxley supposed to be a crime?



PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG - your day is coming soon. Trillions were lost because of you, and you failed America (again). Your corrupted and incompetent profession needs an enema.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone please explain how nationalizing the banks and essentially replacing the putrid, toxic sludge debt with crisp, clean dollars is a realistic response.

Paulson can try and offload the rotting mortgages festering on the books right now, but to who? After such hyper-infusions of cash, the dollar will be completely demolished as hyperinflation becomes the order of the day.

Where for the love of god is all this money coming from?? I want an answer from someone who thinks nationalization is a good idea! China and the Saudis are out. Printing press? How can this possibly work out long term. How can the Brits pony up what they did with a larger personal debt ratio than the US? Anyone bother to think this through? Chirp, chirp .. .

This is a fucking farce.

Anonymous said...

Nothing is going to change unless we can trust people again.

Lost Cause said...

Don't even get me started....

Anonymous said...

Keith,

If it's okay with you, I'd like to contact Obama to see if there may be room for you.

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

the money will be printed because the government can't raise taxes.

people would rather have dollar savings eroded by inflation, and tangible assets repriced, than pay taxes. which, in all actuality, is probably the fairest way to evenly spread the pain among rich and poor alike.

....and none of the remaining accounting firms will fall. Right after Arthur Anderson went down, one of the larger remaining firms (either Deloitte or Price) was involved in a matter which could bring them down in a similar fashion. Prosecution stopped because the economy couldn't lose another of the big accounting firms!

never understood how the economy would just stop dead in its tracks upon removal of one of its biggest cancers.

in a capitalist system, wouldn't another firm (either an existing company or a brand new firm) rise to take a failed company's place?

if J6P understood the difference between accounting (GAAP) and bookkeeping, accountants would be less popular than attorneys.

right wing radio nut jobs wouldn't even concern themselves with 'activist' judges if the average 401k investor could read and interpret an annual report.

guess reading FASB publications and bitching about 'voodoo' bean counters is way more boring or requires to much work.

maybe now people will stop worrying about roe v wade and gay rights when the 'phantom' profits no longer support their 401(k) values. nothing like an extra 20 years of work to re-focus someone's mind.

just a question - why is it that relatively poor people hate the police but relatively rich people hate judges and attorneys?

Anonymous said...

Someone please explain

There is no realistic response. The $700B is peanuts compared to the rotten debts of the banks and won't do a bit of good. But Paulson at least has to try - he can't just say we're screwed and watch TV. So he keeps up this pretense to calm the markets and meanwhile he's hoping for a miracle. The market is seeing that the Fed and Treasury are helpless, which is why it's in free fall.

Another explanation is that the Chinese are now running the show.

GD2 is inevitable. The only question now is whether the Fed/Treasury will destroy the dollar with their clueless bailouts. If they do, GD1 will seem like the good old days, and Americans will be eating bugs and worms to survive.

Anonymous said...

Yes. Write us a check for $350,000 and we will state your books are in good order. (wink, wink)

Anonymous said...

They are going to close the markets for a "cooling off period".

Anonymous said...

Where were the auditors?
When the boat is charging full speed ahead on a gloriously sunny day, and the guests are having the time of their lives, the lowly crewmember who spots a small leak in the hull is hushed. If he keeps bugging the captain, he might get tossed overboard.
Moral: No one listens til the deck starts taking water.

Oh and yes, Keith for Treasury Secretary!

Anonymous said...

"Again, where were (and where are) the auditors?"

Sitting on their asses like usual. It's hard to tell your sleezy bank he's doing wrong when he's paying you.

And didn't Ernst and Young help Enron fail already this decade? Now it looks like they want the whole banking system to fail.

Anonymous said...

Arthur Anderson was Enron's auditors. Remember them? They were one of the Big 5...which used to be a Big 6...which at one time was a Big 8.

Partners in those CPA firms are under immense pressure to keep their clients fees flowing. Tell a client no, fire a client, call out shenanigans = risk losing large fees.

Anonymous said...

what's the different between an auditor and someone who trades sexual favors for money?

i don't know of a punchline yet... working on it.

Anonymous said...

It has been a pleasure reading HP for over a year now. Along with HousingBubbleBlog.com it is a constant source of solid information and enlightenment (and entertainment), something obviously missing on Wall Street and in Washington. Keith's efforts to bring clarity, understanding and outrage to this mind-boggling meltdown is laudable. All Paulson and Bernanke had to do was read a few Websites and they could have been enightened. Unfortunately the Übermensch mentality of both Wall Street and Washington, combined with unprecedented arrogance, greed and stupidity, has resulted in the Perfect Finacial Storm as the USS Titanic steams full steam ahead into the Antarctic-sized iceberg. And by the way, both political parties are responsible for this unprecedented mess, although with the Village Idiot as President what else could we expect but the Greater Depression?

My father related the hardships that he went through in Germany during the Great Depression, which I have taken to heart and have diversified accordingly. People are absolutely clueless as to what is coming their way as the super-power status of the USA massively erodes day by day and their purchasing power erodes even faster. This is going to be better than television everyone. Can't make this stuff up.

Have a nice day.

Anonymous said...

"what's the different between an auditor and someone who trades sexual favors for money?"

Prostitutes don't like off-balance transactions??

Anonymous said...

Deloitte Touche

New Name: "Toilette and Douche"

Anonymous said...

actually, it's the ratings agencies that need to be ran out of town.

i never here anyone condemning them. they should be tarred and feathered.

Anonymous said...

"what's the different between an auditor and a prostitute?"

One of them is paid specifically not to give blow jobs...