While Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan tries to assuage the market (something Dubya is seemingly incapable of), the Senate and House pass measures to stifle corporate malfeasance (and the stock market free-fall), thanks to a Republican “deathbed conversion.”
Category: Political Economy
Do as I Say, Not as I Do.
Dubya calls for the end of a corporate loophole he himself profited from back in his Harken days. Meanwhile, this being an election year (and since I’m sure their profiles aren’t doing so hot right now), the Senate voted unanimously on several measures to curtail corporate malfeasance, a number of which go further than Dubya desired.
Running for Cover.
“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.
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.
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.)
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.
Well, that explains it.
The Post finally tracks down the source of the (recently) oft-repeated Bush quote about only balancing the budget in times of war, recession, and national emergency…and it was said by Gore.
One Nation and Countless Careerists, Under God.
“Oh my name it is nothin’, my age it means less
The country I come from is called the Midwest
I’s taught and brought up there the laws to abide
And that land that I live in has God on its side.”
Bob Dylan, “With God on Our Side”
A Federal Court declares the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, and all Hell breaks loose, with editorialists, Senators, and even our Fearless Leader lining up to decry the decision. (For their part, the House scurried out onto the steps of the Capitol to recite the Pledge en masse.) I dunno. I know I’m not the mean in these particular instances, but as a kid forced to recite the Pledge every morning in elementary school, I always found the name-dropping of God a bit strange and superfluous. I guess the lesson here, folks, is don’t vote against God in an election year. Speaking of which, the GOP are latching on to the decision as a centerpiece to their fall campaigns. Hmmm…corporate malfeasance still seems a higher priority to me than this judicial slighting of our national deity. Somehow, I think He can handle it. (But, just in case, the Supreme Court today ensured that everyone’s tax money can be used to pay Him tribute.)
Need more Credit?
Chagrined from his tax cut spending splurge of last year, Dubya begs Congress to to raise America’s credit limit “for freedom.”
End of the Worldcom.
Joining Enron and Martha Stewart in infamy, Worldcom cooks the books for $3.8 billion. It’s not like either the telecom industry or the economy at large need another hit right now, and this one’s going to be a doozy. Good news for the Dems, at least, but I wonder what this’ll mean for UUNet. Update: Bush vows a probe into the situation. Hey, let’s not forget about Enron there, bud.