NY Times: Whispers of Mergers Set Off Suspicious Trading

I recently observed the interesting coincidence in the sharp rise in ISSX leading up to a cash offer from IBM.

Now comes a lengthy report, from Gretchen Morgenson, and a crack team of investigators, who were apparently shocked- SHOCKED!- that after all these years, and despite all the publicity from so many scandals, people still trade off inside information.

The public must be wondering why we can put an unmanned robot on Mars yet we need a private investigation by the NY Times to finger insider trading.

The truth is the Feds deal with insider trading the same way the IRS deals with people cheating on their taxes: nail a few high profile cases once in a while, stick a few people in jail every so often, and hope the fear of prosecution will keep a lid on it.