Bush Live - Speech on Corporate Responsibilty

MSNBC

[Sub-Driver]

Says Fraudulent CEOs Should Lose All Compensation

[Mo1]

"Mr. Rubin, who now collects $800,000 per week as chairman of Citigroup's executive committee" (Washington Times, March 3, 2002).

$800,000 per week ??? ... GOOD LORD

Oh this smells big time like a pay off

[rohry]

"And yes CitiGroup is in the news a lot due to their exposure with a lot of these now defamed companies, i.e, Enron."

They had a huge exposure to Enron. Rubin is a very highly paid consultant (tens of millions per year). Everywhere he goes there is fishy stuff going on. There is speculation that when he was a bigwig in the Clinton administration that he propped up the strong dollar by leasing gold (actually selling it with the promise that the Treasury would get it back whenever the contract was up). That gold has not been returned.
In the '80s he worked alongside Boesky and Milliken (junk bonds, hostile takeovers etc). Presently, my speculation is that he is advising CitiBank in their leasing of gold (acting as an middleman for the Exchange Stabilization Fund the IMF and the Treasury Department. There is speculation that part of the problem with Enron was that they were short gold and lost tons of money covering their contracts. There is more but I don't have the facts at hand, so I'll save it for later.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

LOL - along with the red print and big letters, right! I am so angry, I can't see straight...guess it comes across! :-)

[Miss Marple]

Well, well, well. And exactly HOW will Mr. Rubin justify that salary to the shareholders? What does he do to earn that salary? Perhaps they were counting on his expertise in Wall Street shenanigans.

In 100 words or less, Mr. Rubin, why are you worth $800,000 per week?

[isthisnickcool]

Dittos! Dittos! Dittos!

People that start and run small businesses in this country make the country work. NOT Wall Street!

And starting and running a small business is TO DAMN HARD for some people! They should be easier to start and maintain. The first thing to do is TRASH the entire tax system. Both corp. and personal. Go to a flat tax.

[Mo1]

Yes, yes. I agree. I just fear that 'profits' will become synonymous with 'stealing' based on the current climate of class-envy

Again .. if the books are ok .. then there is nothing to worry about

If you have cooked books then off to jail

This will make the CEO folks pay real close attention to what they sign off on .. because it will be their butts on the line

They WILL make sure all the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted

[Fracas]

LOL. I knew you'd like this. Check this out, too. You have to read the entire article to get the point, but look at the dollars, the focus of the dollars...well, you will see where I'm going with this.

Happy reading (grin).

http://www.liscnet.org/whatsnew/news/2000/0800gov.shtml

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

"If this all ends up in court the Rats, and the Senate will have NO control about what the public sees and doesn't see."

I can guarantee you that what you are seeing right now about WorldCom is befause this company and its CEO were NOT PLAYING BALL with the Clinton crowd.

Global Crossings will NEVER get to court to expose the McCAuliffe sweet insider deals. I will guarantee that.

[demlosers]

Hold on now! I listened to Rush. He praised the speech but had some questions on about two of the phrases the President used that he (and I) had some reservations about.

Rush made it VERY clear about 4 or 5 times that in regards to these, he's waiting for further "fleshing out" of those points.

I agree. I should have pointed that out in a post to be objective. I got busy doing other things, ect... .

[caddie]

Right here.

Do you or anyone seriously believe that someone like Hillary, McAuliffe, or any other Rat, will be punished by this bluster and smoke by Bush?

Like the "War on Terror," this is largely a PR event.

Plus, I don't equate increasing reporting requirements and red tape (most of which will fall, as a burden, on the innocent businessman) with ENFORCING THE LAWS ALREADY ON THE BOOKS.

Why can't Bush just indict Lay, McAuliffe, et al., and enforce RICO or whatever laws they have broken?

I am opposed to creating new agencies, laws, guidelines, reporting requirements, etc., etc., when what needs to be done, it get some redneck judges appointed who will kick some criminal a$$.

Is W doing anything to get his judicial nominees appointed?

Nothing.

How many has he got appointed and ratified by the Rat Senate? Is it ZERO?

After eighteen months in office?

He is just rolling over and playing dead to the Rat Senate.

He should be raising hell about that, not creating a whole other branch of federal government to deal with 20 or so white collar criminals.

Again, lot of smoke and hot air and posturing,

Done IN REACTION to the Rats' assertion that he is cozy to business.

Done after consultation with his pollsters.

Bush does not lead, he does not act.

He follows the polls. He reacts to murmuring among the Rats and the press corps.

It is follow-ship, not leadership.

Flame away.

[Frank Grimes]

The turning point for my very liberal mother-in-law's worship of hitlery was in President Bush's speech to the nation when the camera showed her barely clapping and looking disgusted. That day she started liking GWB....and disliking the clintons. It showed her for what she truly is, even to those who wanted to like her.

I have often wondered if the cameraman that showed her in a negative way was hunted down and got "Arkancised"? I mean, how could you expect to do that to the Queen and get away with it?/sarcasm

[Wphile]

Rubin's a snake.

[loveliberty]

This will be on record as one of his best speeches!

Without saying so, he smashed the old and often-stated argument of the 90's that personal morality and ethics don't matter just as long as the person in question is "doing his job."

He also tied the corrupt and dishonest practices of the exposed CEO's to the excesses of the 90's and to the environment which produced them.

He brought the idea of "relativism" into the argument and brought back the idea of an "internal moral compass."

Personal character, personal ethics, and personal morality do matter in a leader--whether the person is the President of a small company, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or the President of the United States of America.

Those who spent eight long years telling us that it didn't matter were wrong, and Americans are now paying for the atmosphere they and their "Boss Hogg" political leaders created.

For eight years, the "emperor" had "no clothes" and no substance, no real commitment to principles, and no commitment to keep America's defenses strong, either militarily or economically.

Now, we have terrorists who have established themselves as long-time residents of our communities, we have our technology given to the Chinese for a "mess of pottage" to the DNC from the head of Loral, and we have CEO's who believed it when they heard the message out of Washington: "trustworthiness and honesty don't matter if you're 'doing your job.'"

[Mo1]

There are a lot of sheople who will bleat: "Baaaaa, if they're richer than me they must be cheating!"

There will ALWAYS be those types of people

Just like there will ALWAYS be poor people and rich people

It's been like that since the begining of time

It's reality and folks need to deal with it or they sit around feeling sorry for themselves

[Mo1]

Nice information .. thanks

[Wphile]

Rush made it VERY clear about 4 or 5 times that in regards to these, he's waiting for further "fleshing out" of those points.

Well then, perhaps he should have waited until the "fleshing out" was done before he mouthed off. A bit of analysis is always wise for good commentary. I thought he sounded downright stupid about the BOD being "independent." That's when I turned if off. All told, I probably listened 7 minutes. That was enough for me.

[Mo1]

We shall see

[caddie]

THIS is the Bear Through the Barleycorn. Good post.

This is why every word of what W said today is just poll-driven drivel.

[Fracas]

This has apparently escaped the memory of the press....

"Rubin is chairman of the executive committee at Citigroup, which happens to be one of Enron's biggest creditors."

http://slate.msn.com//?id=2060712

This is an excellent article, but did not get much play.