wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (05/31/85)
What was so bad about what E. F. Hutton did? As far as I have seen, from the limited news coverage of the incident or practice that I have seen, they did nothing more than sensibly manage their assets, by controlling their use of float. What I have heard is that no one or no organization was actually *harmed* by their actions; just that certain banks MADE LESS INTEREST than they would have had, if THEY had done the controlling, like they do to all of us, instead of being under the control of this other entity (Hutton). What could possibly be wrong with that? It seems "turnabout is fair play", to me. Maybe I know too little about just what was done, but it certainly hasn't been made clear that, if I owned Hutton, I would have disapproved of what the people did -- it seems like they did what they SHOULD, to maximize return to the company by handling their money with knowledge and skill. I'd appreciate seeing postings explaining what was WRONG with what Hutton did. (NOT just what was "illegal" -- illegality has nothing to do with "rightness" or "wrongness" any more, especially in laws relating to financial or business practices, which are totally artificial constructs with no grounding in morality.) Regards, Will Martin USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA
z@rocksvax.UUCP (06/04/85)
What EF Hutton did was something call "check kiting." It is illegal. It is effectively obtaining a loan from an institution or individual without their consent. Many people who work in financial institutions are fired each year specifically for kiting funds. It is a suprisingly common form of *FRAUD*. //Z\\ James M. Ziobro Ziobro.Henr@Xerox.ARPA (soon to be Ziobro.Henr@Xerox.COM) {rochester,amd,sunybcs,allegra}!rocksvax!z
john@hp-pcd.UUCP (john) (06/12/85)
<<< The reason that EF Hutton was caught was because some small bank had the audacity to bounce one of their checks simply because they didn't have enough in their accounts to cover it. (I think it was for around $8 Million). Furthur investigations revealed that this was happening on regular basis and that most banks would honor any such checks knowing the EF Hutton would soon be depositing enough money to cover it. John Eaton !hplabs!hp-pcd!john