Hey small investor, $#@! you

That was the message from most of the events over the last 2 weeks. Depressing as they are, I would still like to list some of them here.

• A recent report indicated that top executives will walk away with around $280 million from the Capital One / North Fork merger. Capital One definitely has performed well, but $280 million ? Not unless they have fixed world hunger. Distributed to current Capital One shareholders, that would amount to almost a dollar per share (current shares outstanding - around 300 million). As an investor can you do something about it ? Sure. Write to Capital One Investor Relations at investor.relations@capitalone.com. Don't think you can make a difference ? Try telling a few more people. Ask them to write to IR to let them know that they are unhappy with the handout. Are all the fund managers and directors sleeping at the wheel? Shouldn't someone be questioning the compensation ?
  
• Bear Stearns settled with the SEC over the market timing allegations. The settlement of $250 million won't make it to the account of small investors who lost out in this process. I would have liked to see a few people sent to the gallows for these crimes. But instead a settlement ? What about holding a few people responsible ? A third-time pizza stealer gets what amounts to life, and stealing from people's retirement accounts gets nothing ? The worst possible punishment so far in such cases seems to be house arrest - home sweet home. I am sure they are working on a yacht arrest too!
  
• A Wall Street Journal report today describes how options backdating is widespread. If all the people involved in backdating are put behind bars, Silicon Valley will turn into a Con Valley. Who knows, that may finally bring down valley real-estate prices and unclog the freeways.
  
• Financial Times reports that insider trading is rife on the London Stock Exchange, with around 30% of takeovers preceded by stock movements that look suspicious.
  
• By now Spitzer's allegations about H&R Block's IRA accounts have been reported a few times. Just another bad day for small investors' retirement plans and not one too different from other days.
  
  At this rate, combined with the other malpractices, small investors are likely to be dead before they can retire. Mainstream media cannot be trusted to take these up more aggressively. After all, they are owned by corporations whose boards intersect with other non-media companies' boards.