Next Thursday, Jon Corzine, former New Jersey senator and governor, plans to tell a House committee that he "simply doesn't know" the location of $1.2 billion of clients' money that vanished from his failed investment firm, MF Global. The firm's bankruptcy is the eighth-largest in U.S. history.
He also apologized to "all those affected" on the House Committee on Agriculture's website, and in prepared testimony says in part, "I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date. I do not know which accounts are unreconciled or whether the unreconciled accounts were or were not subject to the segregation rules."
Saying he was "stunned" to learn the funds were missing, he went on, "Considering the circumstances, many people in my situation would almost certainly invoke their constitutional right to remain silent -a fundamental right that exists for the purpose of protecting the innocent. Nonetheless, as a former United States Senator who recognizes the importance of congressional oversight, and recognizing my position as former chief executive officer in these terrible circumstances, I believe it is appropriate that I attempt to respond to your inquiries."
Then he added, that his involvement in the firm's clearing, settlement, payment mechanisms and accounting was "limited."
So here we have a guy who was CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1994 to 1999, then entered politics to become a senator and then governor of a state who claims he knows nothing about more than a billion bucks that somehow vanished from an investment firm he headed, an amount large enough to rank eighth in history of bankrupt organizations of its type.
Now, I certainly understand that folks like Mr. Corzine are very busy, with lots of things on their plates. And that's probably why many items get overlooked or simply fall through the cracks. Because agendas full of places to go, people to see and things to do take up considerable time and effort.
Which is why someone like the president doesn't know what's going on in the economy, and Attorney's General like Eric Holder aren't aware that millions of dollars in weapons mistakenly wound up in enemy hands. And people from the EPA can't approve new pipelines that will save citizens billions versus foreign oil.
But it still seems to me that as busy as these folks in power are, if they don't start paying attention to what's going on around them regarding other people's money...things are going to get pretty expensive for the rest of us pretty soon.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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