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To: Oblomov who wrote (19026)	5/17/2002 11:36:17 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Oblomov, Thanks for your thoughful post. I appreciate the effort. I think I can back off railing regarding how rotten the American corporate culture is getting. The WSJ and the Financial Times are calling for Harvey Pitt's removal. Good news. The shameful disregard for honesty is being addressed. And, here's something on a 10 year old who is carrying the water, and understands why cynicism is so appropriate today. <g> thestreet.com Disgust With Business Hits Grade School By James J. Cramer 05/17/2002 10:21 AM EDT You know things are bad in corporate America when your daughter's current events project is on an FBI investigation of bad loans made to Kmart (KM:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) executives before the discounter filed for bankruptcy in January. Worse, you know things are downright rotten when your daughter writes, without prompting, that many executives in corporate America lied about how their companies were doing in order to steal money from their stockholders. And you can sense the palpable anger and cynicism throughout every age group when your 10-year-old daughter writes in her report summary, "I don't think there is any chance that any of the money will ever be recovered because these bad guy executives always get away with it, even though the FBI is investigating." I kid you not. We are in one cynical time. It has gotten so out of control that our children know the game was rigged. Can you imagine what that will mean when they want to figure out what they will do with their lives? It is time for companies and accountants to recognize that unless we adopt higher standards and are willing to admit the obvious -- not all companies are doing well and at times the numbers simply can't be made -- we are going to lose a generation of productive people to other walks of life because they think business is corrupt. Alas, there was a saving grace, one that gives me hope for the future. Her last line was, "It didn't matter anyway, Target (TGT:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) and Wal-Mart (WMT:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) are much better and more fun to go to than Kmart so if they got the money back they still will fail." How true. Those who don't execute well enough or those who simply aren't competitive were kept in the game in the last few years by shenanigans meant to keep the balls in the air. Now the air is being let out. It's a beautiful thing. Hopefully it will be done by the time my 10-year-old decides her career plans. *************************************** At the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting recently, Charlie Munger was asked about derivatives accounting. His comment was that comparing derivatives contracts to sewers gave a bad name to sewage. All the best, Ray