“In the long run, there’s no capitalism without conscience. There is no wealth without character.” I dunno, Mr. President…you seemed to do pretty well for yourself. In his much-anticipated speech yesterday, Dubya tried to put the brakes on the Wall Street sell-off and quell the growing questions surrounding his own stock shadiness (timeline here.) Needless to say, it didn’t seem to work.
Tag: Enron
Sinking deeper.
As Worldcom execs take the fifth and both Congress and the Dubya administration prep for damage control (for the latter, in a Wall Street speech tomorrow,) White House strategists look desperately for a way to avoid being hoisted by their own petard. Says Dubya of his Vice-President, who’s in deep with the Halliburton scandal: “There are good actors and there are bad actors; he’s one of the good guys.” May work for terrorists, George…doesn’t work so well for executive profiteers.
Corporate Finance Reform.
Meanwhile, John McCain weighs in on the corporate scandals and calls for the resignation of SEC Chairman (Dubya flunky) Robert Pitt. (Via the swankily redesigned Medley.)
Hitting .333.
Frank Rich weighs in with another discerning op-ed on Enrongate, in which he notes that the Bush administration has significant ties to FIVE of the companies currently under scrutiny – Enron, Halliburton, Andersen, KMPG and Merrill Lynch (which is why, of course, Dubya keeps talking about WorldCom.)
Blame Business Casual.
Robin Givhan of the Post blames the recent corporate scandals on Dress-Down Fridays. Somehow, I don’t think most of these guys would be any more straight-laced in a power tie.
Grand Moff Harken.
Just as the Bush White House tries to sidestep the corporate scandals, Dubya changes his story about a Martha Stewart-esque stock dump he made as director of Harken Energy Corporation in 1990, two months before the shares went sour.
Achilles’ Heel.
While the Dems pressure Bush to do more about corporate malfeasance, Salon aptly notes that Dubya’s in deep.
Corporate Malfeasance.
Frank Rich wonders aloud if all the recent hem-hawing about the Watergate anniversary might be better spent monitoring today’s Imperial Executives. (Thanks, Tim.)
Lobbyists Strike Back.
The “feeding frenzy is over,” according to Phil Gramm, and corporate lobbyists are breathing a sigh of relief. The impetus stalls for post-Enron corporate reform in Congress.