Posted on 07/01/2002 11:46:24 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
One week ago, I posited the theory that the excesses, felonies and lack of respect for the law and get-it-while-you-can mentality of the Clinton administration provided the example for corporations like WorldCom, Tyco and Enron. If the guy at the top can get away with all this and still end up with a $200 library slush fund, $15 million a year in speaking fees and a $12 million advance for an book (not one word of which has been written), what's the message?
Well, lo and behold, WorldCom told the government that it is reviewing financial records for 1999 through 2001 for possible accounting problems in addition to the nearly $4 billion in disguised expenses it disclosed last week. Now, George W. Bush was not inaugurated until the last week of January of 2001.
The Algore attempt to blame all this on whatever Bush administration policy he thinks they have with corporate America, just doesn't wash. We played the clips of Algore's delusions in Stop The Tape! Algore Retreats, Focus Groups. He never gives any specifics! Take a close look at ImClone, and you're going to find Clinton supporters all the way from the board of directors and CEO on down to Martha Stewart.
"Oh, Rush, come on, these things have happened since the beginning of capitalism. You've always had ups and downs." Yeah, I don't deny that. But go back and check the times when those things are happening and I'll just bet you that you'll find something happening in mainstream American life that motivated it. We explained exactly this to William, a Democrat (but not a "proud" one) who gave ol' El Rushbo a chance to point out how his support of NAFTA disproves the myth that he assaulted everything Clinton did.
Don't think these things happen in a vacuum. They don't. I'm telling you, I'll bet all these people are close to Clinton. They're attending White House functions and sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, or golfing at his side like Enron's Ken Lay. They were contributing money to his administration to keep the regulators off of them. It's tied to those years, when we supposedly were dishonestly told we had the best economy of the last 50 years and the end of the business cycle.
More like a hemorrhoid.
Wicki-wicki accounting schemes are as old as business itself. Blaming Clinton is fun and self gratifying for conservatives, but the fact remains that there was intense pressure to make a profit by these companies. As long as competitive pressures aren't too high or the economy keeps growing, these schemes will ususally hold up. But a blip.....and kaboom. And as a side bar, could you imagine the cries of socialist government interference had the Clinton administration tried to curb any of these practices?
As I said, it's fun to pile on someone who is our ideological enemy. But what was our excuse in the mid 80's to early 90's when the same practice was going on and one of our own was being blamed by the libs for executive office inaction?
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