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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (53579)	11/16/2006 7:33:52 PM
From: mph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

I'm going to have to avoid some of these generalities; however, I must say that I detect a pretty high level of arrogance among the rich and powerful. That's how you get the Enron fiasco, options backdating scandals, how the Pelosi's were able to skirt regulations in connection with that Lion's Gate development, the Abramoff scandal, and on and on and on. Some folks with a lot to lose take the chance anyway because they think they can get away with it. One need only read the headlines ovver the past 10 years to see that.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (53579)	11/16/2006 7:33:58 PM
From: mph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

I'm going to have to avoid some of these generalities; however, I must say that I detect a pretty high level of arrogance among the rich and powerful. That's how you get the Enron fiasco, options backdating scandals, how the Pelosi's were able to skirt regulations in connection with that Lion's Gate development, the Abramoff scandal, and on and on and on. Some folks with a lot to lose take the chance anyway because they think they can get away with it. One need only read the headlines over the past 10 years to see that.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (53579)	11/16/2006 8:11:55 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Not only do they have more to lose, but they have more resources to use to avoid cutting the corners. I suppose on the flip side they have more resources to pay experts to tell them where they can get away with corner cutting, and to deal with the fallout if they are called on it.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (53579)	11/17/2006 3:14:29 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

<edit: I realize you said from your experience, "most wealthy people... try harder than most people to avoid cutting corners" Perhaps you are right. As explained below that's not my personal experience. I was however, in a position that exposed me to a large number of wealthy people seriously lacking morals & ethics. That doesn't mean that is representative of "most wealthy people".> I'm going to have to disagree Peter, at least from personal experience. I know a fair amount of folks who are quite well off. By Dem's standards I actually know a boatload of rich folks <gg>. I also have been involved in the prosecution of quite a few very well off folks. I can think of plenty of cases where they cut corners somewhere that made you wonder why they did it. They obviously had the means to avoid cutting corners & still maintain a lifestyle that most would envy. As for the folks where I assisted in their prosecution; it became obvious to me that once they began to cut corners, they quickly began to cut more & more. In most cases their greed (or whatever it was), made it easy for me to nail them nine ways to Sunday. For these folks, the realization they had so much to lose didn't hit them until they realized the gravy train they created inappropriately was going to cost them dearly. In fact, when I first arrived to audit them, to a man, they were arrogant & confident they were going to get away with their crimes. In almost every case they had started cutting corners slowly, often not enough to warrant prosecution (It may have resulted in a few serious audit findings demanding restitution & a serious warning). However, as time went by, not only did they increase the magnitude of the corners they were cutting, they found more corners to cut. And most of them continued to take what wasn't theirs while I was there on site.