Posted on 06/27/2002 8:31:15 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
NEW YORK - The growing list of American corporations that have doctored their books or found other ways to cheat is quickly becoming a crisis for American capitalism. Continues.===========================================
Wall Street succumbs to the Clinton Malady
What's happening on Wall Street?
Barely a day goes by without another horror story of massive corporate fraud and corruption. In December, the flavor-of-the-month was Enron, the largest bankruptcy case in U.S. history. A month later, it was Global Crossing and the fourth-largest U.S. bankruptcy filing ever. In February, Tyco International was accused of hiding over $8 billion worth in acquisitions -- 700 in all. Financial irregularities last week drove the chief executive of Qwest Communications to resign. Tuesday night, Adelphia Communications, the cable TV industry's sixth largest company, filed for bankruptcy amid accusations of questionable accounting and Andersen-like bookkeeping.
And now -- WorldCom Inc., No. 2 U.S. long-distance provider. After an internal investigation, the company's board of directors reported uncovering billions of dollars in masked expenses/inflated profits. All told, nearly $4 billion -- $3 billion for '01, $797 million for '02 -- was illegally listed as capital outlays, according to the audit.
President Bush was livid, calling the news "outrageous", and vowing to bring the crooks to justice.
At a joint news conference, Bush told reporters on the opening day of the G-8 Summit in Canada that "we will fully investigate and hold all people accountable for misleading not only shareholders but employees as well."
Late Wednesday, the beleaguered company, based in Clinton, Miss., was hit with civil fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In light of the wave of corporate accounting scandals, a question inevitably arises.
Was the much vaunted, grand-and-glorious 90s 'cornucopia' -- the dazzling growth rates, staggering profits, milk-and-honey, roll-in-riches opulence -- but a huge, mother-of-all corporate swindle, a colossal mirage, the product of phony bookkeeping, financial impropriety, shady accounting, business fraud, abracadabra, slight-of-hand?
'Hyperbole!', cry the "experts".
It would be -- knee-jerk, rhetorical overreaction, that is -- if from the myriad corporate fraud cases roiling the market of late, the 90s were dissed harum-scarum as Machiavelli shell-gaming, book-cooking, monkey-business -- and nothing more.
Yet, look at the backdrop of that era: The runaway sleaze, scandal-a-week Clinton (mal) administration. As fish rots from the head down, so the vulgar, rot and decay -- the squalid, seedy, tawdry, lawless malignity at the top trickled down the body-politic, its cesspool poison infecting corporate boardrooms and Wall Street itself.
Wall Street, in essence, succumbed to the Clinton malady.
To corporate crooks, Der Schlickmeister was a role model to emulate.
To bandits and thieves, Clinton was a hero to cheer.
To pilferers and con-men, X42 was an idol devoutly admired.
To rip-off artists and bilkers, to fleecers and cheats, Clinton was a superstar, an icon to laud, to cherish.
When moral squalor at the top is tolerated, even cheered, WorldCom, Enron, Global Crossing are the whirlwind reaped.
The Clinton era was marked by corruption, dishonesty, dishonor, treachery -- at the highest echelons: No-one should be surprised that societal corrosion resulted at many levels.
Moreover, Larry Kudlow, co-host of CNBC's popular 'Kudlow & Cramer', points to another factor possibly at work: The failure of the Clinton "Justice" Department to prosecute numerous corporate fraud cases during the latter half of the 90s.
"I think the authorities sent the wrong message", Kudlow told Hardball Wednesday night.
Kudlow: "Now [with Bush in the White House] you're going to see the toughest white collar crime prosecution we've seen in probably fifty or sixty years. But it's long over-due."
I can't say it often enough: Thank God the adults are now in charge.
Regarding Wednesday's other big story, the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declaring unconstitutional America's Pledge of Allegiance -- yes, the same Pledge Americans have recited for almost fifty years: Folks, any lingering doubt about liberal intolerance of religion; that left-wingers are dimensions removed from reality; that lefties harbor nothing but contempt for our constitution, American tradition, history, culture and plain ol' common-sense; that liberals are hell-bent on excising all traces of faith from American life, imposing a Soviet-style form of government, this hideously deranged, utterly twisted decision should remove any such doubt.
The jackass ding-a-lings who whipped up this drool spout the following imbecility: "A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical ... to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus', a nation 'under Vishnu', a nation 'under Zeus', or a nation 'under no god' at all.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer shot back, pointing out that "the Supreme Court itself begins each of its sessions with the phrase 'God save the United States and this honorable Court.'" He added that the "Declaration of Independence refers to God or to the Creator four different times. Congress begins each session of the Congress each day with a prayer, and of course our currency says, 'In God We Trust'".
Circuit Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez, the court's lone dissenter, augured that patriotic songs like "America The Beautiful" and "God Bless America" will meet the same fate as The Pledge.
Tellingly, the court itself concedes that children aren't forced to recite The Pledge, anyway -- undermining the basis for the decision.
While the court en banc is likely to reverse the ruling and uphold a lower court decision to throw out the case, this red-meat is rife with political implications as we head into the fall campaign.
Democrats are especially nervous. Sensing vulnerability, Tom Daschle, the Senate's top Democrat, said the ruling was "nuts", despite pervasive hostility in his party towards all things religious. For lefties, rigid insistence on strict Church-State separation is an article of faith (pun intended).
On the Senate floor yesterday, Democrats joined Republicans in approving, 99-0, a resolution denouncing the court's decision, even requesting that Senate Counsel "seek to intervene in the case."
Will Democrats 'get away with it' -- this phony-baloney back-peddling?
Only time will tell.
One thing's for sure: Democrats needed this issue like they needed a hole in the head. They'd like it to go away -- but it isn't.
It can't. It won't.
Anyway, that's..
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"
He's right! These crooks need to be thrown in jail...like yesterday.
"One thing's for sure: Democrats needed this issue like they needed a hole in the head."
heheh...
Another excellent essay! Thanks!;o)
What has happened to these corporations was the infection of the immoral Clintoonian/Rat virus in the top execs and in many of their boards.
Their Rat arrogance and the Rat credo "NO CONTROLLING LEGAL AUTHORITY" is what has led to this melt down of Rat Controlled corporations.
It is time for all Rats to realize that CONTROLLING LEGAL AUTHORITY IN AMERICA HAS RETURNED!
The problem lay with those who were more than willing to allow Clinton to be Clinton. That crowd includes the sheeple who when polled denied that character counted and the media who values celebrity over leadership as well as self-interest over national interest. The majority of blame must go with the corrupt congressional buffoons of both parties, primarily those in the Senate who refused to have a trial with witnesses. Everyone knows that even a liberal and a socialist such as Christopher Hitchens whose succint little book "No One Left to Lie To", I just got around to reading yesterday. Don't give Clinton too much significance, he was simply a criminal who lied and cheated his way to high office. There will be others who will find there way into high office. Will the sheeple, the media, and the politicians fail again to have the will to do what needs to be done? Losers cling to the myth of a moral victory. There are some real losers in the Republican Pary who have attempted to make the claim that impeaching Clinton while not convicting him was just that kind of victory. On the contrary to impeach Clinton and have a show trial without witnesses was the greatest kind of moral defeat.
Now there are those in government who seem outraged by the fraud and criminality on Wall Street. Do not let the fraud on Wall Street give you cause to take your eye off the mother of all frauds which is centered in the federal government in Washington, D.C. Billions disappear on paper in the Agriculture Department and the leaders of both corrupt parties never bat an eye. Who knows what will happen to the guilty in the Wall Street frauds, but those scandals can never match the criminality of the politicians. It was not that long ago when a boy named Josh Steiner admitted to congressional committee that he LIED to his DIARY. He made such an implausible admission in order to keep the heat off a superior. Such is the gang mentality and loyalty that keeps these corrupt parties thriving. There is no such gang loyalty or mentality on Wall Street. Martha Stewart will not have any underlings sacrificing their freedom for her. If her bacon is to be saved it will be through a deal cut by the politicians such as Torricelli and his ilk, who will work her a pass because they fear being exposed for doing much worse.
Amen, my FRiend. Now, to get the 'lamestream' half a brain.
It probably started out ok, but with Clinton in the White House, and children raised to believe in situational ethics running things, it rapidly turned into a con job. When people with no moral center see things start to fall apart, they will spin like a top (and lie, and cheat and steal) trying to save their behinds.
Brilliant John.
For that reason, I believe nearly every big business has expanded and adapted the GAAP to "fit" their business style. Unfortunately, that includes the Federal Government. We all see how it is so easy for Congressmen to tell the American people that there is a "surplus" all the while they are stealing Social Security Funds and leaving worthless IOUs. Or removing food and fuel prices from the Consumer Price Index (CPI). If you think that such activities are limited to governmental entitities, you are sadly mistaken. There is more corruption than the SEC or legal system will ever be able to handle. With that I will put on my Chicken Little Hat and say "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"
Well said! Each one of the top level exec's at these companies was about as "above board" as Bill Clinton was a chaste, honest man.
The 90's will forever be known as the Clinton Decade of Deceit!
My argument is basically that a lot of these collapses we're seeing are a result of the dot com collapse. With the exception of Enron, most of these failing companies are telcos or telco involved. Too much infastructure and not enough demand led to Global Crossing, Northpoint, Excite@Home, Qwest, WorldCom, and even AT&T (to some degree) to implode. This in turn affected all their suppliers...Cisco, Juniper, Nortel, etc. Bascially dot com bomb caused telco bomb caused supplier implosion (no bomb yet though Nortel is teetering).
So to understand the collapse of Worldcom you have to understand the collapse of the Dot Coms. And the collapse of the Dot Coms can hardly be laid at Clinton's doorstep. It was the fault of the securities companies, the venture capatalists, and yes even the investors. The King had no clothes. He never had clothes. But nobody saw that he had no clothes until billions upon billions got tied up investing in the King. It could even be argued that they saw that he had no clothes but chose to ignore it. Alan Greenspan was right about the "irrational exhuberance" but nobody listened.
I certainly wouldn't lay the Savings and Loan crisis at Reagan's or Bush's doorstep. It was the fault of the bankers and the oversight and it cost us half a trillion to fix. Similarly I can't lay Worldcom at Clinton's doorstep. Although I'm sure lots of people will try because it makes for good headlines and keeps the Democrats on the defensive. Which isn't a bad thing, even if it isn't factually accurate.
Correct -- and I know some life-long Republicans who voted for Clinton because he seemed most likely to conceal the King's nudity. He did, therefore making everyone who was playing the game feel self-righteous, as in "everybody does it." The world is corrupt, why should I not feather my nest through corruption? and so on.
In that sense, Clinton made a very real contribution to corporate and market corruption, as well as to individual irresponsibility.
THIS is part of what artificially propped up the economy during X42's maladministration. I have believed this for YEARS. The "administration" gave tacit approval to all business practices by big donors as a way to help them prosper in return for their financial support for the Democrats. And it wasn't confined just to the last part of the 90's, either. Sure says a lot about the integrity of corporate officials, doesn't it?
I think you should be writing columns for the media!! Might I suggest you forward your articles to a venue like WorldNetDaily?? I'm serious!!
Job well done!!!
It's also an excellent read. You do great work!
Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!
Molon Labe !!
About that real estate: be thankful you were not in south California back in '91.
Oh, we were here in 91, and way before that. And the properties that we owned have gone WAY up. Some have actually doubled in value since 1991.
We are California natives, and have no desire to leave. We knew where the values were going. Only so many homes and so much land to go around, as the people continue and will continue to come. Even the inland Empire, Riverside and San Bernardino areas are running out of buildable land. It's gotten to the point in some areas that you don't even need a for-sale sign, as mulitiple, full price offers are common place as soon as the home gets into multiple listings.
Even the southern California mountain resorts are booming, as many are retiring, and others that no longer have the desire to fly on vacations, are now grabbing up local property in the mountain resorts for family weekend getaways and for vacations, instead of flying to Europe, or Egypt etc.
There just not making any more land here and it's becoming as scarce as the available real-estate inventory.
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