Some Justice...

Today, two of the founders and top executives of Adelphia were sentenced to jail time. It has been part of a trend of executives being found guilty of the crimes that led to the rash of bankruptcies that began with Enron in the end of 2001. In addition to the conviction of the Rigases, Bernie Ebbers (Worldcom) and Dennis Koslowski (Tyco) have both been found guilty of fraud and other misdoings that led to their respective companies restatement of billions of dollars in earnings. It is a good sign that some of these white-collar criminals are looking forward to the prospect of jail time. However, it is interesting to note that the responsible party for the scandal that triggered the others, Enron's Kenneth Lay (a.k.a. Kenny Boy to Bush) has not been held accountable. There is also a remarkable silence from the White House about these decisions, which should be lauded as a restraint on the greedy motives driving many corporations. The two are not unrelated, I don't believe. Ken Lay was a major contributor to the 2000 election campaign of George W. Bush (he also donated his corporate jet to shuttle Bush around for some of the campaign). The Bush Administration also may not see the guilty verdicts and jail time as a good thing. They would prefer to see unfettered business, even when it results in abuses such as Enron, Worldcom and Tyco. In addition, Bush himself is guilty of similar practices that have gotten these CEOs in trouble. Firms under his control were bought out by firms owned by family friends at valuations higher than otherwise expected, shares were traded on insider information and the transactions not reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In fact, the SEC was prepared to investigate Bush's insider trading, but could not because his father happened to be President at the time.