March 30, 2004
I have read the draft documents and considered the changes they propose. While I think our culture is awash in data and worry some about what this will be doing to our functioning as ordinary citizens, I believe these proposals are a good and necessary extension of the framework of rules within which investment options are offered and traded. It seems obvious to me that the more that consumers are encouraged to, and aided to, become informed and sophisticated investors, the cleaner and more just will be the operation of our capitalist system, its risks, returns and successes. Ive been an investor over 25 years, mostly in mutual funds mostly Vanguard and have felt well-served by these institutions, as to what they have contributed both to my economic security and on-going education. Ive also been alarmed but not too surprised by the current resurgence in the system of seedy practices, interlocking cronyism among some of the rich and powerful, the corruption of expertise, and the criminalized pursuit of self-interest over the common good. I warmly applaud this effort by the SEC to counter such tendencies.