If you happen to be among those Facebook investors cursing the IPO's rough start, David Weidner at the Wall Street Journal has a little salt for your wound: You're probably an "old-fashioned Wall Street sucker," he writes. After all, the signs of "shifty business" were clearly evident before the big day—the last-minute price hike and increases in the number of shares offered, Facebook's own acknowledgement in April that growth had stalled, GM's decision to yank paid ads, etc.
Yes, if the underwriters didn't disclose late changes in analysts' forecasts to the masses, the masses have a right to cry foul and sue. "But let's be honest," writes Weidner. "Are you really so helpless that you're depending on Morgan Stanley and Goldman to connect that last dot of Facebook's financial picture when 95% of the drawing is visible?" Click to read his entire column. (More facebook IPO stories.)