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Non-Tech : The Enron Scandal - Unmoderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (1305)	2/5/2002 6:10:24 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3602

Good catch KLP, I don't find the position to hypocritical though, inasmuch as the welfare of the working and middle classes is fully dependent on honest and able leadership. It was a chickensheet argument from the Bushistas, and totally disingenuous, that the drugged, distracted, or overworked "man on the street" should have enough interest to spend the dozens of hours that others of us have keeping up on developments on the Enron fraud and be able to make a determination of what their opinion should be. My point was not that the man in the hinterlands should be abused and cheated the way the Bushistas want, but rather that he's ill-informed. You absolutely cannot infer from my dismissal of uninformed opinion that I'm cynical about my concerns for the future of this nation. Which I see being stolen from this nation by the Bushistas to pay off the Ken Lays of this world. Get it? Your dismissive tsk, tsk.... is noted. You are recognized as a very special member of the "smirking jerks" club. All the best, Ray :)

To: KLP who wrote (1305)	2/5/2002 8:23:21 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 3602

Enron, Anderson Trade New Barbs Over Collapse Tuesday February 5, 6:36 pm Eastern Time By Kevin Drawbaugh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Enron and its former auditor traded fresh recriminations on Tuesday, as former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay reversed his earlier refusal to appear before congressional committees probing possible improprieties in the nation's biggest ever bankruptcy. Andersen CEO Joseph Berardino told the House Financial Services capital markets subcommittee that the special Enron committee led by William Powers, dean of the University of Texas Law School, had rebuffed Andersen's attempts to offer information about Enron's spectacular collapse. ``We begged them to talk to us,'' Berardino told the congressional panel. ``This committee did not talk to us.'' The hard-hitting Powers Report, released on Saturday, alleged that Andersen was closely involved in the creation of the shadowy web of partnerships used by Enron to hide debt. The chief of America's fifth-largest accounting firm said it did not know about transactions involving the partnerships. Contrary to the Powers report, he said, Andersen did not help develop those partnerships. ``We did not help to establish. We reviewed the accounting that others developed,'' he said. Enron fired Chicago-based Andersen as its auditor on Jan. 17, ending a long relationship in which some Andersen accountants ended up working for Houston-based Enron. ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY REFORMS Andersen's involvement in the Enron affair has sullied the firm's reputation and those of other accountants, setting off a wave of concern in markets about financial reporting quality. Responding to market concerns, Berardino called for changes to the accounting industry in response to the Enron affair, which he called ``painful, but instructive.'' He said U.S. accountants should drop their simplistic ''pass/fail'' corporate auditing system and replace it with more flexible quality grades and ``plain English'' auditing reports. Touching on a sore point for Andersen, which has said it was left in the dark by Enron on some questionable transactions, Berardino suggested ``making it a felony to lie, mislead or withhold information from the auditor.'' In another development on the widening Enron scandal, President Bush appeared to rebuff a call to name a special prosecutor to probe Enron's collapse. Speaking to reporters in Pittsburgh, Bush brushed off an appeal by a key senator to appoint a special prosecutor to lead an investigation into Enron's collapse, saying his Justice Department could handle it. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat, broke with the bipartisan tone of the Enron investigations on Monday with a call for the appointment of a special counsel due to Bush administration links to Enron. ``This is a business problem. And my Justice Department is going to investigate and if there's wrongdoing we'll hold them accountable for mistreatment of employees and shareholders,'' Bush said. Asked whether he did not see a need for a special counsel, Bush said: ``I see a need for laws. I see a need for a full investigation, and that's what we're providing,'' rejecting a prosecutorial tool that was a staple of the scandals surrounding former President Bill Clinton. GENEROUS POLITICAL DONOR Enron was a generous political donor to both parties, although it tilted its money toward Republicans and was especially generous to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. Separately on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said the Bush administration would push for more accountability from corporate chieftains in a revamp of business disclosure laws. ``The key is accountability and responsibility for corporate officers and directors, accountants and auditors,'' O'Neill said in testimony prepared for the Senate Banking Committee. The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have been charged by Bush with finding ways to close loopholes in the nation's corporate accounting system.