You brought up two good examples, so you do realize part of the problem: criminals who profit from failure, in fact cause failure as their road to riches. Guess who made hundreds of millions in failed companies? Yes, those who handled the cash flow for Enron, Worldcom, Global crossing etc. Since they paid off politicians for protection into unaudited offshore accounts, people like Ken Lay run around Aspen in his jogging suit instead of behind bars in his prison uniform.
Anyone dumb enough to have the slightest trust in any unaudited process of business and government is the reason this country is sliding towards disaster. I was like you too as a youngster.
Here's the deal -- those who handle the money without audit end up with the skim. It doesn't matter if there is a debt, as long as it's big enough, and some percentage is being handled, without adequate controls, by thieves.
When there's millions or billions (in this case, trillions) at stake, to the extent there is secrecy, there is criminality. Those that rise to control of centralized power are almost always the most ruthless. It is a truism in business and government, as our Founding Fathers knew well. |
