A Corporate Crime Wave?

The Wall Street Journal ^ | GEORGE GILDER

[VinnyTex]

Or a search for political scapegoats?

Friday, January 11, 2002 12:01 a.m.

Crime may have declined in the streets but, by the recent inflammation of the pundits, you would think there has been an outbreak of corporate criminality. The Internet, communications and stock-market booms of the 1990s, it seems, were based on a pervasive series of felonious acts. A wide array of businesses, from Global Crossing to Loral, from General Electric to Enron, artfully inflated the worth of their shares through the creation of Potemkin businesses. If you believe the news coverage, corporate leaders are racing to despoil, mulct, defraud, poison, pillage and ruin their own businesses, their nation's soils and waters, their retirement funds, and the world economy.

[gonzo]

Vinny, I had to read this one twice! It's so well crafted that I almost forgot that some criminals stole over a billion dollars in the Enron thingy!

Like they say, if yer gonna steal, steal-big!

Stay well and vigilant, old friend......FRegards

[Fulbright]

Jeffrey Mohammad Skilling, Osama Ken Lay, Mohammad Atta Gates, Mad Mullah Welch...

Zing.

[mrustow]

Yeah, I'm so glad that ol' George has explained to me that there was no criminal wrongdoing at Enron, or in the Savings and Loans debacle during the 1980s. For a man who can seem so intelligent at times, at times, George Gilder can be a real dunce. Pieces like this one give socialism a good name.

This reminds me of two pieces I read in the magazine Ideas on Liberty over the past year or so that argued that 1. there's nothing immoral about insider trading, and 2. that overpaying corporate executives is perfectly justifiable, economically.

[Wyatt's Torch]

Probably the single best article I have read on the destruction caused by the tremendus errors of the Federal Reserve and the meddling bureaucrats. This is not to absolve the management at Enron, of course. We will see a lot more bankruptcies before the economic devestation is complete. Thanks Alan, you really screwed up. It will take decades to recover.

[maestro]

A Corporate Crime Wave?

Al-Qaeda II

[Tauzero]

"1. there's nothing immoral about insider trading, and 2. that overpaying corporate executives is perfectly justifiable, economically."

Sounds right to me -- though I'm not sure how one defines "overpaying".

[CHQmacer]

"Pieces like this one give socialism a good name"

Agreed.

There are very good reasons that laws have been passed that keep corps from going exactly what Enron has done. The problem is that virtually none of the criminals will spend time in prison. They should spend a very long time in a real prison not a federal country club. That will make other criminals think twice about stealing billions from investors and damagaing the economy.

"In the face of this long siege of policy blunders, politicians today charge Enron with concocting subsidiaries to conceal debt and self-dealing "

that is illegal because it is stealing. When investors are lied to and their money stolen it damages the economy. Investors are going to be less willing to invest in America if we don't protect them from fraud.