Liars And Justice
posted in General |LIARS AND JUSTICE
The last few weeks have been very troubling for me. I feel betrayed.
I am a very strong supporter of – and believer in –our American Economic System, whether it is called capitalism, free enterprise, economic freedom, or whatever. It is undoubtedly the best eco-socio system in the history of mankind. It provides more opportunity and benefits to individuals than any other system, and in my view there is nothing else in second place. As far as I can see, all socialism does is provide employment for left wing academicians who have never met a payroll and are content to contaminate universities by hogging up on the benefits of free enterprise as parasites while bad mouthing the system that allows them to do it.
Maybe I am hopelessly biased because I am one of the millions who have benefited from our economic system. From a modest backgroud I was able to fashion a rewarding career in industry, put 4 kids through college, and retire with dignity. Along the way, I had the privilege to work with, and for, many outstanding, high quality, high integrity people. Were there some scoundrels? Sure, there always are. But overwhelmingly, it was the quality people who moved ahead as leaders. As it turned out, the Company for which I worked for 33 years has disappeared from the corporate scene – but not because of theft or fraud. It failed because of the ego, greed and avarice of 2-3 men. And there is no way we can legislate our way around that.
But the ongoing revelations of big time corporate theft, greed and fraud are disheartening indeed. And it starts and ends at the top. Whether Enron, Adelphia, Global Crossing, Tyco, Worldcom, or Arthur Andersen, it is just a handful of very powerful men (and maybe an occasional woman) who knew exactly what they were doing. This business of finger-pointing, “don't know”, “can't recall” or taking the fifth is so much hogwash. They knew exactly what they were doing – every step of the way. They just got caught. All of corporate American surveys the bottom line numbers and relates them to the stock price. Every day!
True enough, a million dollars isn't what it used to be. But it still is a big chunk of change. Most Americans simply can't relate to the enormity of a net worth of $50 million, much less hundreds of millions or billions. How many toys can you accumulate? Why do people of immense wealth have to evade taxes, cheat and steal? But even beyond in the quest for super wealth, these guys just didn't sink the ship, they took the crew down with it. It was all so simple – just manipulate the numbers and tell no one. And now they sit in a hearing taking the fifth.
Why shouldn't Americans be leery of the stock market when funny numbers are so prevalent? Now Congress is on the attack for stronger laws to punish the trangressors. All we can hope is that they don't throw out the baby with the bath water. As an aside, considering the spending proclivities of Congress and some of the creative accounting now being used (see Social Security) inside the Beltway, Congress and its leaders may not be in the best position to be outraged at financial deception. To many of them, a mirror might be helpful. No matter what, we cannot pass laws to guarantee honesty, integrity and trust. It is difficult indeed to put those qualities in place, and very easy to lose them. But without them, our system surely will fail.
The current top level thieves have done a great disservice to this country. We no longer have vigilante justice, and maybe that is unfortunate. I personally think we should commandeer all of their assets, lock them up, and throw away the keys.
Come to think of it those seeking harsh extreme penalties for the corporate transgressors are indulging in just another form of greed – greedy for revenge. Certainly, the corporate leaders now facing justice can't quarrel with greed, can they?