Anderson in the midst of Global Crossing fiasco too:
From WSJ today...
"Earlier, the SEC asked the Bermuda-based company for corporate documents and a letter sent by a former finance executive that raised concerns that Global Crossing and its auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, were misleading investors about the accounting for certain long-term leases."
"Global Crossing said it didn't tell Andersen or its current board-level audit committee about Mr. Olofson's letter until recently."
In other strangely related news....
DeJaVu all over again...I listened to CSPAN broadcast of Skilling and a couple of crooks, er execs from Enron say essentially the exact same thing with regard to an Enron whistle blower letter. Delivered to counsel, it never made it to their audit committee either...
And funny how (to a person) they had perfect recall in exact detail for all the things they did not do or hear, but could not recall a single thing they did do or hear.
Kind of like Cheney defending the independence of the executive office from a GAO probe all the way to the Supremes, but somehow it is of no consequence to defend his credibility or that of the office to the public.
Now if you are poor and rob a bank for $1K, or sell a $20 rock of crack, you go to jail for life. If you are rich and rob thousands of poor working people, you get richer.
But foreign terrorism is our number one problem?
IMO, domestic white collar terrorism like this is much much worse. The History of Rome comes to mind:
From Encarta, Roman Empire...
Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire remained strong, while the Western Roman Empire began a steady decline in the face of economic disintegration, weak emperors, and invading Germanic tribes. The breakdown of communications, commerce, and public order exposed the people of Gaul, Spain, and other provinces to famine and robbery. While the central government provided few services and little protection, it demanded more taxes and goods. Panic and alienation drove both peasants and city dwellers from their homes. They sought protection from powerful landlords, who controlled their own self-sufficient villas. In these heavily fortified villas, the lower classes hoped for relief from the twin predators of late antiquity: barbarians and tax collectors.
For those less familiar, in those days the foreign terrorists (Germanic tribe members) toppled the aqueducts and tore up the cobbled highways into Rome. Taxes, well, no backgrounder needed there.
And the beat goes on...
JMHO
-Own |
