Live Free or Die
Hambrecht & Quist (HQ) and Alex, Brown & Sons (ABS). Curiously, the total number of IPOs HQ and ABS participated in represent only a fraction of the total number of IPOs in the sector during those years.
These two small boutique investment banks were among the leading Tier 1 underwriters in the High-Tech IPO market during those years [1,2,3]. For the 1986-1991 period, out of 191 underwriters, only 14 underwriters belong to the Tier 1 group [4]. For instance, ABS was ranked 5th among Tier 1 underwriters between 1980 and 1985 with 33 offerings or 3.0 % of the total offerings in that 5-year period. In the following 5 years period, between 1986 and 1991, ABS was ranked 1st amongst Tier 1 underwriters with 79 offerings or 7.3% of the offerings. Hambrecht & Quist was ranked 8th among Tier 1 underwriters between 1980 and 1985 with 26 offerings or 2.4 % of the total and ranked 14th between 1986 and 1991 with 21 offerings or 2.0% of the total offerings. For the 1993-1995 period, out of more than 500 underwriters, we still find ABS and HQ among the Tier 1 underwriters ranked 12th and 19th respectively with 90 and 55 deals, which combined is about 10% of the total number of deals [5]. During the last year of the dot-com bubble, ABS lead-managed 24 technology IPOs and still ranked among the top 10 underwriters.
How can one explain then the high rate of success in the long term of the companies that were underwritten by these two relatively small investment banks and brokerage houses? What was their secret? The answer as we will show in this article resides in the connections between those investment banks and the National Security State. [1]
The other irony is that Communism is absolutely thriving in America in broad daylight: the monopolies, quasi-monopolies and cartels that dominate the American economy and governance are Communism for the Rich.
The core goals and functions of communism and monopolies/cartels are identical: snuff out unfettered markets (competition, transparent price information for all participants, etc.) and take control of all market functions, restricting supply and controlling all regulation with the sole goals of further concentrating centralized power and maximizing steady profits (i.e. maximum greed) to benefit those who own/control the concentrated wealth and power.
And of course both pump out an endless spew of propaganda about the wonderfulness of the system that benefits the few at the expense of the many.
This centralized power to benefit the few at the expense of the many characterizes both Communism and monopolies / cartels. There is no difference between the two other than the structures of control that eliminate competitors, regulates supply and keeps prices high enough to further enrich the already-rich.
Those operating monopolies and cartels in America are in effect a private-public Politburo, a concentration of wealth that buys whatever political power is needed to increase profits and protect the monopoly from threats. [2]
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