Thursday, May 25, 2006
In Defense Of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling
They Have Been Wrongly Accused and Convicted
I do not mean that Lay is innocent of the 6 counts on which he was convicted today or that Skilling is innocent of the 19 for which he was convicted. They are guilty as sin of those and more. No, I mean they have been wrongly accused of being a couple of rotten apples in the otherwise pure and pristine barrel of Corporate America. They are not the exception, they are the rule. There is something rotten in Wall Street, and it is not being directed by Heaven. Nay if we follow it, the stench, we find it to be Wall Street itself.
Wall Street and Corporate America have tried to hide behind a façade of amorality. They attempt to cover-up their misdeeds and illegalities by assigning them to a nebulous and ill-defined world of ‘business’. They are not accountable for their actions, “It’s only business,” magic words that relieve them of all responsibility. It is quite ironic that Big Business would adopt such an attitude after all the trouble it went through to get the government to declare that Corporations have the same rights as living breathing human beings. This the government finally did in 1886 when it was so decreed by the Supreme Court in its Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad decision. They want and have all the rights but none of the obligations. Thus it has been for the past 120 years, and the result is the devolution into Bush World.
David Sirota in his new book, Hostile Takeover, gives this warning from Thomas Jefferson,
Oh, its all been legal, bought and paid for on the open market. Greg Palast facetiously says we have “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.” Of course it is neither the best nor a democracy. It is Bush World 2006. It is the world of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling.
The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To
Make.
They Have Been Wrongly Accused and Convicted
I do not mean that Lay is innocent of the 6 counts on which he was convicted today or that Skilling is innocent of the 19 for which he was convicted. They are guilty as sin of those and more. No, I mean they have been wrongly accused of being a couple of rotten apples in the otherwise pure and pristine barrel of Corporate America. They are not the exception, they are the rule. There is something rotten in Wall Street, and it is not being directed by Heaven. Nay if we follow it, the stench, we find it to be Wall Street itself.
Wall Street and Corporate America have tried to hide behind a façade of amorality. They attempt to cover-up their misdeeds and illegalities by assigning them to a nebulous and ill-defined world of ‘business’. They are not accountable for their actions, “It’s only business,” magic words that relieve them of all responsibility. It is quite ironic that Big Business would adopt such an attitude after all the trouble it went through to get the government to declare that Corporations have the same rights as living breathing human beings. This the government finally did in 1886 when it was so decreed by the Supreme Court in its Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad decision. They want and have all the rights but none of the obligations. Thus it has been for the past 120 years, and the result is the devolution into Bush World.
David Sirota in his new book, Hostile Takeover, gives this warning from Thomas Jefferson,
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."Jefferson said this in 1816, almost 200 years ago. Like all aristocracies, corporate behavior has not improved with age. It has steadily declined. The trial is over and Corporate America has won, it is now the government.
Oh, its all been legal, bought and paid for on the open market. Greg Palast facetiously says we have “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.” Of course it is neither the best nor a democracy. It is Bush World 2006. It is the world of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling.
The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To
Make.
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