Posted on 03/21/2007 4:20:32 PM PDT by TheConservativeCitizen
As the trial for former Qwest executive Joe Naccio gets under way, I think a few predictions are in order:
1. The jury that is seated will take themselves way too seriously. The jury will be composed of more women than men. Those women will furiously scribble notes for the first three weeks (when the prosecution presents its case), and grow tired of the process when the defense takes its turn.
2. The bloodlust of the anti-executive types will grow. Those that have been hurt by the falling stock prices of Qwest will ooze out of the woodwork to proclaim how their lives have been ruined by Naccio and Qwest. An all-too complicit media will fan those flames with interviews of near retirees greeting customers at Wal-Mart because they can no longer retire.
3. Some executive that cut a deal with the Feds will surprise the court and the public with outlandish statements about how terribly mean and demanding Naccio was (as if CEO’s are supposed to be like the guys that run Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop). Of course the jury will bite. One woman will cry from her alternate juror seat.
4.Despite Naccio spending tens of millions of dollars, his defense team will do a pathetic job of presenting its case. From jury selection to closing arguments, it will be amateur hour in Denver. Our resident lawyer and scribe (DFV) will be proven to have been more effective using his Conclub buddies as his team.
5. And even though the prosecution will not have met its burden, Naccio will be fined many tens of millions more, spend twenty years in the can, be ordered to pay restitution to the Wal-Mart greeter, and otherwise have his entire fortune taken from him. Anti-business types will hail the verdict as a victory for ethics in business. The reality will be that there will be more CEO’s in the future that go to jail for no other reason than they presided over a company with overpriced stock that had the bottom drop out. The days of prosecuting bad business decisions are here, they’re queer, get used to it!
Yes Qwest(USWest) was always doomed. To much land to cover with little return. Not enough big city revenue to subsidize the other parts of their territory.
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