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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MSI who wrote (267919)	6/28/2002 1:29:53 AM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Thursday he was worried about the consequences of accounting scandals at U.S. firms like WorldCom Inc (NasdaqNM:WCOM - News), but sought to reassure U.S. allies of his commitment to keep financial markets sound. "I'm concerned about the economic impact of the fact that there are some corporate leaders who have not upheld their responsibility," Bush told reporters ahead of a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a rich country summit in Canada. "If you are a responsible citizen and you run a corporation in America, you must fully disclose all assets and liabilities, and you must treat your shareholders and employees with respect," Bush added, in his second comments in two days about the WorldCom mess. Putin said Bush had discussed concerns about U.S. accounting practices and the stock market with the leaders of the Group of Eight nations at their meeting in the Canadian Rockies resort of Kananaskis. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the president wanted to reassure markets around the world. "One reason the president spoke out about this here is because he wanted to reassure everybody, not just American investors. Of course it's a global market," She said on CNBC's Capital Report. "The United States expects the highest of ethical behavior and truth and transparency from its corporate leaders," Rice said. The high-profile scandals at WorldCom and at some other big corporations by no means represented the totality of American business, she said, but just "a small portion." WorldCom, the second-largest U.S. long-distance carrier, has admitted it booked expenses improperly to boost profits -- a $3.8 billion accounting scandal. The company said it would restate results for the last five quarters, erasing all profits from the beginning of 2001. Bush has promised a full investigation, and aides said he was "mad as hell" about the lack of corporate responsibility in America. "We will fully investigate and hold people accountable," Bush said on Wednesday. After giving piecemeal comments in various speeches recently, Bush is planning to devote an entire speech on the subject of corporate governance next month, an administration official said. Putin welcomed Bush's comments to the G8 on the issue, citing the implications of U.S. market turmoil on the global economy. "Yesterday, the president (Bush) devoted much attention to this problem during the general discussion. His opinion on this was of considerable importance to me and our other colleagues because in this age of globalization, a great deal of what happens in the world depends on the state of the American economy," said Putin. "Therefore the American president's conviction that there must be transparency in the affairs of U.S. business and in the securities markets ... is very important, a very good signal." Seeking to reassure anxious U.S. and foreign investors, Bush declared on Wednesday that the U.S. economy was "strong." A senior U.S. official on Thursday said most of the leaders had an upbeat feeling about their economies. "(There was) a general sense, obviously, of some optimism as we see growth picking up in almost all of the G8 and I think across the board leaders saw higher growth later this year as well as next year but there was no prediction of global growth that came out of this," one official told reporters. It's just AMAZING that the word or people from ENRON NEVER GET MENTIONED....only when W doesn't have any DIRECT CONTACT does he make the great statements that someone has to pay.... CC