Michael Collins
Meridith Whitney came out with a shocking story on 60 Minutes called Day of Reckoning 12/19/10 claiming an impending muni bond market meltdown. Never mind that it was rebutted with quick analysis here and elsewhere. It had an effect – Investors have been fleeing municipal bonds. This was a major disruption in the bond market. This is a result of her story – A Guide for Profiting from the Meridith Whitney Muni Meltdown Scenario. The profits and losses from this manufactured news have yet to be fully assessed but l’affaire Whitney has it’s costs to taxpayers.
Here’s a modest proposal. Since Whitney’s prima facia case had major holes in it and since it had such a huge negative impact for some and positive for others, lets have a DOJ, SEC, FTC or special prosecutor investigation of the report, Whitney’s financial connections, those of CBS Corp. and all of its executives to see if the report was intentionally biased. We might, just might, find out if there is market manipulation going on to benefit fat cats while hundreds of millions who benefit from the mini bond market, the citizens of this country, struggle.
