God Save Your People. . . From Whom Though?

Ills of Society (Members Only)

Sample story:
God save your people from conspiracies created by the U.S. Army because families of fallen soldiers suffer.

Cpl. Pat Tillman was a safety with the Arizona Cardinals and in 2002, following September 11, turned down a new contract with the NFL and joined the army. He died in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004.

It took the Army 35 days to inform the family that he had been killed by friendly fire. The regimental commander made the decision to keep the information on “close hold”. Cpl. Tillman and an Afghan army soldier, after having separated from the platoon because of a disabled vehicle, and after having trouble communicating with the platoon because of the terrain, were mistaken for the enemy and fired upon.

The initial investigation of this incident concluded that Tillman had been killed by friendly fire. However, the commander of the regiment believed that the first investigation was not completely thorough and ordered a second. The second investigation brought about the same conclusion. However, it was felt that because the investigating officers did not visit the scene and did not interview witnesses relevant to the matter, both prior investigations were not sufficient. A third investigation was ordered in November of 2004.

Cpl. Tillman was issued a Silver Star. However, the family believes the award to be an effort to hide the true facts of the matter and to exploit the death of their loved one. The investigation showed that the documentation used to award the Silver Star contained inaccurate statements that had been written by people other than the witnesses.

As a result of the investigation 9 officers including four generals will face “corrective action” for the mistakes made following the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman. Will the corrective action taken against these officers be enough of a warning to other military officials? Investigations following the death of a soldier from friendly fire need to be handled with the utmost care. The families suffering the loss of their loved ones should not have to suffer further by having to wait months or even years to learn of how such a tragedy could have taken place.
God save your people from inside traders because while illegally making money for some their actions cause others to lose money.

Another bust that involved insider trading has been reported. Criminal charges were brought against 13 people by prosecutors in New York and Washington. Hedge-fund traders were tipped off about new analyst ratings and talks of secret takeovers by an executive at UBS AG and a former compliance lawyer at Morgan Stanley.

“Hedge funds are private pools of capital that allow managers to participate substantially in gains on the money invested. That pay structure creates an incentive for employees to trade in non-public information.”

Situations like this are giving good cause for concern regarding hedge fund activities and their sources of information. Senator Arlen Specter wants market watchdogs to take action based on the evidence that insider trading has become such a large problem. Two studies have shown that stocks regularly rise just before a takeover. Cheating and can even be tempting to the securities firms because they receive up to $10 billion a year in fees for service provided to hedge funds. Steps are being taken by the SEC to watch for suspicious hedge-fund trading. They are developing a database that will watch for suspicious activity.

As is proven in the above analysis, it can be tempting, even for those that know better, to cheat in order to make money. A system needs to be put in place that makes the consequences to such actions outweigh the greed for financial gain. What should the consequences be? Jail time is apparently not a great deterrent. Can you add your view on this epidemic?

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