Take on the Street
October 12, 2002

So many investment books cross my desk, there are very few I'd recommend that you buy. Among my favorites are: Against the Gods by Peter Bernstein, A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel, and Where Are the Customers' Yachts? by Fred Schwed. Today, I'd add a new one, Arthur Levitt's Take On The Street.

The former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Levitt is the longest serving chairman in history. He was a champion for individual investors, crusading for greater transparency and disclosure during his tenure in the '90s.

In the book, he recounts how the SEC attempted a series of investor-driven reforms only to run up against the powerful money-triangle of Wall Street, Big Business, and Capital Hill. He fought to ban auditors from providing consulting services to their clients. But Congress, swayed by campaign contributions, blocked the move. Lawmakers also condemned a plan requiring that stock options be expensed.

And despite the brief burst of reforms we've seen since the Enron scandal, Congress still is no friend of individual investors. That's Levitt's take on the Street. It's a depressing read.

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