Today's dose of bad and scary economic news is breaking out of St. Louis. Both STLToday
(St. Louis Post Dispatch's web-site) and KSDK.COM (NBC affiliate) are breaking a story about a raid at Wachovia Securities office in St. Louis.
Securities regulators from Missouri and Illinois conducted a special inspection this morning at Wachovia Securities headquarters in St. Louis, according to Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.
In May 2007, Wachovia Securities acquired A. G. Edwards, a St. Louis-based regional brokerage firm. Wachovia moved the corporate headquarters from Richmond, VA to St. Louis following the sale.
Authorities launched a full-scale investigation into Wachovia in April and had requested documents which have not been supplied. Today's raid was an effort to examine the missing documents and serve subpoenas on dozens of Wachovia securities agents and executives.
Carnahan told reporters that more than 70 formal complaints have been made to her office representing more than $40 million in frozen assets.
"Hundreds of Missouri investors have called my office because of inability to access their money. They were told these investments were safe and easy to cash in, but now they cannot run their business, make medical payments, or pay school tuition," Carnahan said in a statement. "Our office is doing all we can to find solutions that will make these investors whole."
Authorities from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts also participated in this morning's raid.
These are not good times, my friends. I think I'm going to stop picking on Barack Obama and start praying for him. When he's president taking over this mess, he's going to need all the help he can get.