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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (15239)	7/18/2002 11:07:54 PM
From: whitepine	Respond to of 23153

I seem to be missing something about these penalties. What should be done to those who started Social Security as the world's greatest Ponzi scheme? The farm bill? Other cost over-runs and pet pork projects? Seems to me business fraud is rather mild by comparison.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (15239)	7/19/2002 12:36:03 AM
From: Steeliejim	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Stockman, LOL, "If they weren't in such a panic, legislators could be a little more creative in crafting punishments that truly fit the crimes. A few million dollars in fines is nothing to executives who've earned hundreds of millions. And few white-collar criminals serve a day in jail, much less the maximum sentence. Perhaps Congress should look to Colonial times, when pain and public humiliation were an important part of punishment. With that in mind, here are some consequences Congress might want to consider for various corporate crimes: -- Cooking the books: Violators must stand at a blackboard, in the buff, on CNBC, and write, "I will not capitalize ordinary expenses" 3.8 billion times. -- Illegal insider trading: Violators will be tied to a straight-back chair and forced to watch "Martha Stewart Living" reruns, nonstop, for 25 years. -- Analyst doublespeak: Put in stocks. Offenders will be forced to invest life savings in dot-com stocks and stand in the town square, where passersby can spit at them and shout things like, "You had a strong buy on Infospace at $130 a share!" -- Pension fraud: Perpetrators must work as a greeter at Wal-Mart -- alongside former employees who've lost their life savings and their previous jobs -- until age 95. -- Tax evasion: Swim from Delaware to Bermuda with a slab of red meat strapped to their back. -- Selling out shareholders: Share a cell with John Walker Lindh for 20 years. -- Manipulating energy markets: Electric chair, of course." Now that I've calmed down a bit, Pitt may just be taking all this criticism personally, and may actually do something to prove his detractors wrong. We'll see. Back On Topic, I thought retailers (eg. WMT, BBY) were about to take off for a bounce today, but they got reeled back in. IMHO they should be good for a 10+% ST. I also was interested in COF for an play off the blood bath yesterday, but, but am suspicious of AH bounces that don't hold, and decided to sleep in. BAX may be worth a play manana. I'll take a look, and maybe a chance. If you notice what's been happening, there's a lot of potential babies being thrown out with the WCOM-type bilge water. Jim