Sunday, October 29, 2006
Where's the justice?
Exactly how much is being pilfered from both shareholders and taxpayers by "white collar criminals"? Enron and Worldcom got the press's attention, but most don't. The point here is these cases are typically history by the time they are prosecuted, hence the "loot is long gone". Messrs. Hal S. Scott (Harvard Law) and R. Glenn Hubbard (former member of Council of Economic Advisors), among others want to provide greater protections for white collar criminals in the name of "cost-effective regulation". The argument that our capital markets are losing business because of liability issues relating to enforcement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is surely a red-herring indeed. Our capital markets work solely because of the confidence of its investors. The public's confidence in our capital markets is severely undermined by the presence of white collar criminals in corporate America. Shielding these "vermin" under any guise is morally unacceptable and intellectually disingenuous. Corporate coffers demand better oversight, not less.
Exactly how much is being pilfered from both shareholders and taxpayers by "white collar criminals"? Enron and Worldcom got the press's attention, but most don't. The point here is these cases are typically history by the time they are prosecuted, hence the "loot is long gone". Messrs. Hal S. Scott (Harvard Law) and R. Glenn Hubbard (former member of Council of Economic Advisors), among others want to provide greater protections for white collar criminals in the name of "cost-effective regulation". The argument that our capital markets are losing business because of liability issues relating to enforcement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is surely a red-herring indeed. Our capital markets work solely because of the confidence of its investors. The public's confidence in our capital markets is severely undermined by the presence of white collar criminals in corporate America. Shielding these "vermin" under any guise is morally unacceptable and intellectually disingenuous. Corporate coffers demand better oversight, not less.
Labels: Sarbanes-Oxley
