Posted on 08/21/2009 8:17:23 PM PDT by abigail2
Saturday, Aug. 23, 2009
Rep. Maxine Waters
TIME: 1 PM
Location: S.W. College (Inside the "Little Theatre")
1600 West Imperial Hwy Los Angeles, CA 90047
Tel: 323-757-8900
I was at the March for Justice that beautiful, warm, sunny Oct 31. I will be there again this Sept. 12! Hope the weather is just like it was for the March for Justice. I met so many freepers, it was very exciting.
Wow! I have been a Freeper since the March for Justice. That was fun... Jesse started something he called “Repudiate Jesse Jackson”. When he started BOND no one dared say anything against Jesse. Now everyone can see him and the other race baiters for themselves. At least everyone but Newt...Nice talking with you...
LOL, you don’t know how old I am!
Remember Mercuria, anyone seen her? connie hair,
“March for Justice”!!!! What a proud day we had and the beginnings of so many FR Freeps! I still have my red cap, hanging on a wall.
reminds me of aunt esther on sanford and son.
I don’t want to tell you what she reminds me of.......
Yes, I posted a flattering picture of her...you should see her when she gets mad!
wish there were a youtube video..
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/bank/hba83079.000/hba83079_0.HTM#15
Monday, July 8, 2002
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, D.C.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your continuing leadership on this important matter.
The CHAIRMAN. Gentleman’s time has expired. Further opening statements?
The gentlelady from California Ms. Waters.
Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I sincerely thank you for calling this hearing, and I really do appreciate your patience in allowing me and other Members to take the time that we need in order to give our opinion about what is going on.
Americans are watching and waiting to see if the Members of Congress are going to get serious about investigating corporate crime and supporting tough legislation to prevent the corporate fraud schemes we have seen unveiled in recent weeks. WorldCom, Incorporated, joins a growing list of corporations accused of wrongdoing and criminal activities, Enron, Arthur Andersen, Tyco International, Adelphia Communications, Rite-Aid, Global Crossing, Xerox and more to come, corporations whose executives stand accused of abuse of stock options, sweetheart loans, conflict of interest, excessive compensation and severance pay, and now the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a fraud lawsuit in Federal court against WorldCom, Incorporated. This suit alleges WorldCom, Incorporated, was directed and approved by top managers to keep earnings in line with Wall Street expectations and to support WorldCom stock prices.
In essence, WorldCom has revealed they inflated their books by $3.9 billion. They treated ongoing operating costs as capital investments. They reduced their operating expenses, that is, the costs they paid to other carriers for using their networks, by spreading the costs into the future. This improper accounting is no error, no mistake. It is calculated to enhance the company’s net income and to hike its earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization. This made WorldCom appear healthier than it was and thus more attractive to investors.
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A syndicate of banks holds $2.6 billion in unsecured loans and bondholders about $30 billion of WorldCom bonds, all of which are in jeopardy. The banks could call in their loans, and the WorldCom bonds could be thrown into default. My own State of California public employee retirement pension funds could lose approximately $580 million. WorldCom could easily file the largest bankruptcy in history. The impact of such a bankruptcy will be felt around the world. Aside from the 17,000 WorldCom employees, thousand of employees in related industries could be laid off. Thousands of pensioners could lose their pensions, and the damage to our economy is incalculable.
This cowboy capitalism must stop. The President of the United States cannot simply treat this as damage control for its future election of stump speech with the right sound bites is not good enough. The President of the United States must support tough legislation, and he must use the power of the White House to get the support of the usual course of defenders of the megathieves of corporations to vote to live up to their tough on crime rhetoric with mandatory minimum sentences.
The shameful corporate culture of old boy relationships where major banks led by Citigroup, with J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Fleet Boston, Bank One and Wells Fargo, made billions of dollars of uncapitalized loans to WorldCom without any due diligence, but at the same time cannot find in their corporate hearts a way to provide home mortgages to working families to own a home, and it is disgusting.
The analyst, Mr. Jack Grubman from Salomon Smith Barney, with close ties to WorldCom—and, by the way, he refers to close ties and conflict of interest as synergy—is the one who recommended WorldCom as a good investment while WorldCom was on the brink of collapse, and he should be indicted. The founder Mr. Ebbers, the board of directors, and certainly the auditor of the now infamous Arthur Andersen should have known and should be held responsible. Mr. Sullivan committed the simplest, most easily detectable accounting fraud. He lied about operating costs, his debt, and is still trying to justify operating costs as capital costs. Everyone should have known, and I believe they did know.
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I was alerted that the principals we have here today will take the Fifth Amendment, and that is their constitutional right to do so. However, I expect the Justice Department to determine if there was a conspiracy to commit fraud. I expect the Justice Department to go after WorldCom’s auditor, the consistently insider conflict of interest wrongdoer Arthur Andersen, once again. I expect Mr. Sullivan to return the $10 million retention bonus given to him. And I expect the SEC and the Justice Department to delve into the sale of his WorldCom stock to determine if he benefited from the inflated stock prices that he created.
The CHAIRMAN. The gentlelady’s time has expired. I Wish to wrap up.
Ms. WATERS. Fraudulent accounting practices even at the risk of jeopardizing the completion of his multimillion-dollar mansion.
I expect the Justice Department to examine Mr. Ebbers’ WorldCom loans and stock options to determine if he benefited from the cooking of the books.
I demand the SEC to exercise its authority to getting to the details of the WorldCom fraud. What other operating expenses have been reported as capital expense? How can we protect the pensioners, and how will MCI and other customers be protected?
The immoral and unconscionable practices of corporate America have been festering for a long time. Corporate America in general and some particular corporations such as Enron and WorldCom have gained power and influence by their connection to politicians by the way of campaign contributions and cozy relationships. These—
The CHAIRMAN. The gentlelady’s 6 minutes have expired.
Ms. WATERS. Unanimous consent for 30 seconds.
Mr. GREEN. I object.
The CHAIRMAN. Gentleman objects. Let me indicate the gentlelady can submit the rest of her written statement for the record, as all Members may do.
The CHAIRMAN. Gentleman yields back.
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Massachusetts.
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Mr. FRANK. To clarify, there was a reference earlier to the putative firm of Salomon Barney Frank. I just wanted to report that that merger is highly unlikely, and certainly has not yet taken place.
The CHAIRMAN. I am relieved to hear that. The gentleman from Texas wishes to be recognized.
Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Chairman Oxley, and thank you Ranking Member LaFalce. In order to save time, I would like to ask unanimous consent that my statement be entered into the record.
The CHAIRMAN. All the statements will be made part of the record.
Mr. GONZALEZ. I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman.
Are there further —
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, unanimous consent to please correct the record and make sure that Barney Frank is not accused of anything.
The CHAIRMAN. Without objection.
Mr. FRANK. Well, not of anything. Don’t go too far.
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Mississippi seeks recognition?
Mr. SHOWS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. The events that bring us here today are tragic. Thousand of workers have already been laid off, and indeed more layoffs are sure to follow.
Countless Americans invested their money and their trust in WorldCom only to see their savings vanish. Confidence in corporate management across the board has been shattered and Wall Street has taken a beating.
You found it! Amazing. OK, I’m not imagining things. And Maxine Waters is *still* a flaming nutball, LOL.
Waters: “ I AM O U T R A G E D “!!!!
That is all she has said for 25 years. Maybe 500 times
Wow, what a forum...ask and you shall receive!! Thanks
Only someone like him could make them listen to the truth of what is happening to that community.
Mercuria used to hang with AnnaZ if I recall correctly.
I see Connie on Twitter most days, and she writes for Human Events/Connie Hair. She's pretty active in Republican politics; I think she also does some work with Alan Keyes.
I'm still PO'd I missed the March - got stuck working that weekend! Memories - some bad, mostly good. I picked up my tag-line from that Senate fiasco, and nothing has improved since! :^)
I don't think "nothing has improved since". I think FINALLY Americans are waking up and so I guess we had to go through all this to get here...Do you think it the the Gates Gate that was the final straw for them? Jesse does.
When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America , he said:
"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in ... And how many want out." Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.
Wow, got this off your profile page....
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
I was born in 1930... ;)
Where was the barf alert???
Note to Maxine: You think YOU are outraged? Wait until September 12 - you will see some outrage over the insanity and idiocy of Congress that has gotten us into the fiscal mess we are in. NONE of you deserve to represent the greatest country on the face of the earth. If you had even a shred of decency, you would resign in humiliation and shame.
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