March 14, 2017
A massive blizzard that is pounding the Northeast this morning. As such, no one is going to give a crap about a BrokeAndBroker.com Blog piece today about Wall Street regulation. So . . . let's digress and consider a favorite story of mine about the misgivings of a singing songbird in winter.
As fall fell upon the brook, the birds began to take to the skies and fly south for warmer climes. One bird, Manny, wasn't quite sure if there was any point in pulling up stakes. It had been a warmer than usual fall. Maybe there wasn't any point in closing down the nest and joining the annual exodus. Older, wiser birds than Manny pulled him aside and said to get a move on. They warned him that winter was coming with a vengeance. Manny knew better. He was a young bird and a risk taker. He decided to hang in there near the tree by the brook.
At first, Manny's gamble looked like a good bet. With the onset of winter, there was no snow and the temperatures were almost balmy. Then, one morning, Manny awoke to two feet of snow and a frozen pond. Day after day, things got worse and colder. Day after day, little Manny the songbird was starving and freezing to death.
One day, which Manny thought was likely his last, he stumbled into a field where several cows were chomping away at some bales of hay. As his hunger and the cold took its toll, Manny passed out under one such cow. The final indignity, the songbird thought, was that his last conscious thought was a huge cow turd falling on him and covering him up. What a way to die.
Then the unexpected happened: Manny awoke and realized that he wasn't dead. The songbird soon figured out that he was surrounded by a warm cow turd, which was filled with pieces of hay that he ate and nourished himself on. Finding himself warm and full, Manny the songbird started to chirp away in utter happiness and contentment.
It just so happened that nearby was a cold, hungry wolf. To the wolf's surprise, he heard a singing songbird. Among the wolf's favorite meals was songbird. The wolf headed over towards the field filled with grazing cows and came upon the turd that covered Manny. And as the songbird continued to sing and give away his position, the wolf eagerly licked away at the cow pod until he had uncovered the singing bird . . . and then he ate him.
Now, boys and girls, what is the moral of this story?
Not everyone who shits on you is trying to hurt you.
Sometimes, when you're in shit, it's best to keep quiet.
Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
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Sample Guest Blogs
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- "BREAKING FAKE NEWS: The Fiduciary Duty Rule Is Dead!!" (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog by Aegis J. Frumento, Partner, Stern Tannenbaum & Bell / February 23, 2017)
- "This Way to Financial Services Reform" (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog by Jay. B. Gould, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP / February 6, 2017)
- "Who Is a "customer" for Purposes of FINRA Rule 12200" (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog by Martin P. Unger, Partner, Wexler Burkhart Hirschberg & Unger, LLP / September 16, 2016)
- "The Best Offense Is A Good Defense" (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, by Elisabeth Miller, Managing Partner, Milava Consulting / September 10, 2016)
- "Get On Board With New FINRA Rule 2273 Before You On-Board Registered Reps'" (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, by Myles Blechner / July 1, 2016)
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