The U.S. Supreme Court gave Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other investment banks a new shield from antitrust claims, throwing out lawsuits that accused the securities industry of rigging 900 initial public offerings.Gosh... Golly!!! Gee Whiz....
The justices, voting 7-1, today overturned a federal appeals court ruling that had permitted suits against 16 investment banks and institutional investors, a group that also included Credit Suisse Group and Merrill Lynch & Co. The investors were seeking billions of dollars in damages.
``An antitrust action in this context is accompanied by a substantial risk of injury to the securities markets,'' Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the court. He said a shield was warranted because of the Securities and Exchange Commission's regulation of IPOs.
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The Bush administration largely backed the securities industry in the IPO case, saying the investors might be able to re-draft their lawsuit to focus only on conduct not permitted by the SEC. The majority went beyond that position and threw out the lawsuits.
[ cf Investment Banks Shielded From Suit by Top U.S. Court (Update3)
(emphasis added for comedic effect) ]
What? the invisible hand of the Great Imaginary Foote of the Market must be protected by the Supreme's essentially indemnifying the, well, gosh, wonders of a regulatory system that establishes a safe and sane market system by making sure that the game is legit...
Hum....
Do we really want to have a system of checks and balances???? Or would that be like threatening america with a retreat to the mere law of Man!!! Rather than the Divine Rights Of Divinities...
Ah yes, America, the land of the Massive Whatever....