Which corporate criminal first???

[caddmannq]

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"And, actually, I think the sooner some major
corporate criminal goes to prison, I think the
faster investor confidence is going to rebuild in
this country."

--U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin, a Republican
from Louisiana.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, Nominate your favorite corporate villian!

Who should go to prison first???

Or should it be a government (elected) criminal??

[daveleau]

Bush is innocent. Nuf said. (Cleared by SEC and they were notified by him before his actions, so he is clear)

I would love to see the WorldCom peopel sent ASAP. Them along with the ENRON crew are completely corrupt and should be sentenced for their theivery and hinderance to the US economy.

[caddmannq]

Well, Gray Davis is high up on my list....

[Knothead]

I was gonna say, Gray Davis.

[ironforge]

sounds good..

I think a government official should be put to the axe before a private official..

i mean hey.. you elect a govt official and they should be working in your best interest..

where as in the private sector they are motivated by profit

In a corporate environment the size and complexity of Worldcom/Arthur Andersen/Enron, it is not an individual who acts alone for personal enrichment.

The present corruption scenario is the collective result of simultaneous system failures and consequent exploitation by a collusion of management forces hell bent on saving their positions (by projecting profitable P&L accounts/Balance Sheets).
The way these malpractices occur in these corporations is far more complex from a management/financial accounting point of view. The problems often occur as a result of poor corporate judgement, a cavaliar attitude, or just plain old fashioned stupidity.

So, I feel the crown wouldn't fit any one individual, but rather the entire Board or executive management.

My vote: Worldcom. Reason: As late as May/June when I was searching for a job, Worldcom was one of the most prolific poster of positions on monster.com and hotjobs.com. The wanted to hire something like 700 sales people. To get that sort of management approval and commitment implies that they felt they could brazenly pull it off.

[brandon184]

I agree 102% with the U.S. rep. These markets are going to have a tougher time recovering with we don't act. People want (NEED) to see results!!!

- Brando

[willy_ph]

Paul Skinner - CEO of Shell's Oil Products Division

[MegalosSkylaki]

The guy who runs the local pets supply store

I like my food well-cooked and warm, and delivered with a linen-service cart, with a French-trained waiter.

Yeah, plus the CattFood leaves something to be desired
Like taste


DOOOOOOOOG

P.S. The problem is a lot of the stuff they do is NOT illegal --or skirts in a grey area--where the Generally Accepted Accounting Rules (GAAP) are not seen.

Much of this thievery is in the tiniest print and obfuscatory language, in the glossy paper Annual Statement . Or buried under misnomers that defy common sense, yet are not illegal.

The Financial Analysts make a million a year and their Co's underwrite Stock Offerrings by the Co's the "analyze"--another conflict of interest, but not downright illegal.

The Corperations --with a little help from their friends in Congress--have written rules that allow stealing candy from a baby.

The damnable part of all this is much is NOT presently ILLEGAL.

That's where change must begin.

The OWNERS of a Corperation are the shareholders--and they are being fleeced.

This is not Capitalism--but Corperativism.

DOOOOOG

[MegalosSkylaki]

can solve this mess.

Back in 1998, FASBY--the Fianancial Accounting Standards Board--wanted to make Stock Options an accounting "expense" item i.e. reporting them on the Accounts Payable (or Expenses) part of the Ledger.

Tech Co's went to Congress--which put a stop to this !

The International Financial Standards Board today made "stockoptions" an "expense" item.

DOOOOOG