Allowed and protected by the Bush Administration. Falls under Executive Privilege.

We need ethichs reform and govt. that is open and accountable to the people.

We need to wake up to reality, folks. Corporate corruption and rampant expansion are manifestations of greed, and greed is the driving mechanism of capitalism. Capitalism can be very good, but it also can be very, very bad, and it needs to be carefully and rigorously controlled for the general good. Almost everything in this world is motivated by greed, whether for the accumulation of money, power (politicians come to mind for that one), adulation, or whatever. Sad as it is, we have to carefully watch everyone and everything to try to prevent greed from harming us, the general populace, because greed causes the acquisitors to lose their moral sense, and their byword is "me, me, me, and to hell with the rest of you." We all see it every day in many different guises, but usually we shrug it off, thinking that's just the way people are. We condemn ourselves to living in a low moral plane when we do that. If we want to live in a decent world that's not rapacious, we need to stand up for ourselves and not let the selfish, immoral people in this country (world?) continue unfettered on their merry way. The wrongdoers aren't going to reign themselves in, because they lack a moral compass, and they won't stop until someone stops them. If we take a stand when we see wrongdoing, others will join in; people power could accomplish a more benevolent, caring, unselfish, moral, truth-telling planet. It just takes a public and political will. So, will we?

UPDATE: Some relevant quotations to ponder:

The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm.—Milton Friedman

There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.—Frank Buchman

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.—Erich Fromm

If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed, and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect.—Jacques Cousteau

Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.—Little Richard

The world is a mess. So it seems. Or maybe everything that was hidden, festering, wrong, twisted, and based on lies is now surfacing and showing itself in all its various forms of greed and violence and untruth.—Rosanne Cash

The ultimate solution is to shift mass consciousness away from hate, greed and fear towards peace, love, cooperation and justice.—Dennis Weaver

firestone "mindshare" what is suppose to be ratings done by customers is accually tainted, as a former employee i know that the results are not really those submitted by customers as they say but the employees instead resulting in tainted results. could this be because they don't really want the public knowing the true results?

Ahh, "Dissent" a favorite haunt of of Christopher Hitchens and David Horowitz and other fake liberals! Yes, I suppose ketchup probably is a vegetable, I guess. (in a way) ...in any event...

  The "news" and the astonishing lack thereof, THAT'S  the biggest corporate fraud issue that faces us. and our future citizens.

Although this issue does affect many Americans, when you weigh the other problems facing us today, its importance is clouded by war, the economy and human rights (this one alone opens a world of concern and debate).

Corporate fraud is nothing new. It has been happening for decades. The only difference is the abuse has become more severe.
However the same old record as before:
1) CEOs make all the money, while the bubbly/hardworking people do all the hard work and get paid nothing in comparison to what they should.
2)The prices are gouged to the extreme. Yes-- that shirt was made for $1 and will be sold for $50. I am sure that child in Sri Lanka appreciates that .03, while you rest on your yachts.
3)Oh no! Profits are only a 100000% percent! Lay off 1000 hard working employees and downsize this (pink slip)!

Really,retail in particular corporations make me sick. Employees are always expected to be smiling and happy, quick and attentive, while getting overworked and verbally abused.

Corporations are another means to kill the soul of a community and enslave buyers to their products.

Evil Corporations.

On the first day that Kenneth Lay was testifying at the Enron trial, most of the news outlets led with coverage of the birth of Tom Cruise's kid. Lay's testimony got limited exposure.

Laws cover this area well. I am somewhat concerned about the apparent increase in corporate greed.

This has become a major problem as Corporations use donations and lobbying to manipulate our policy makers into writing or rewriting laws to suit their needs rather than to PROTECT CITIZENS.Although taxpayers and the working class are virtually the BACKBONE of this country,their needs and rights are being trampled in favor of Big Bucks.If Money is the root of all Evil,Power is the tree and Misery for good and honest folks is the bitter fruit.

Not nearly as detrimental to society as fraud within the public sector.

The bar continues to be lowered as to what constitutes corporate fraud. At present it seems to be resting on the ground. Nothing comes to light unless the abuse is so great that it causes the company to go belly up and then the criminals still walk. Remember Enron, remember Worldcom, I say remember the U.S. treasury, looted at a rate unprecedented in our history by the current adminstration and its cohorts. Let's just focus on Cheney, as Secretary of defense from 89-93 he was the principal advocate for privitazation of the logistical aspects of the military. Then off to Halliburton to draw a check, then back to government still drawing a check from Halliburton bringing billions to their coffers out of the Iraq and Afghanistan debacles. Don't forget the over trillon dollar raid on the treasury in the form of tax cuts that went mainly to the already rich while the workers got a bonus to go out and buy an new micro wave oven or juicer. Oh wait I cast aspersions on the Prez he said that low incomer's would get the greatest benefit, that most of the tax cut would end in their pockets. Actually, the word that was used was the greatest percentage would go to low income. There's the rub. For instance let's look at a family of four with an income of $27-28,000, they got back %100 of their taxes------- $20 to 25.00, oh my thanks a lot!

When it comes to corporate fraud, people tend to overreact. Every system will have abuse and waste whether it be food stamps, Medicare or business entities. The question is what is the reasonable amount of regulations and enforcement resources that should be imposed and allocated to mitigate the abuse and waste. First, one must remember that business entities (eg corporations) are merely tools. A corporation is a tool for private individuals to accomplish goals and investments that require massive amounts of accumulated wealth to achieve. Without business entities, only the government and the church could perform these services, and sometimes neither the church nor the state is the best and most efficient vehicle to perform these functions. Second, as for the most recent corporate financial scandals, these were largely as a result of excessive market pressures on business to achieve exaggerated returns on investment. This is not an excuse for what happened, but merely an explanation so as to alleviate the fears of widespread corporate fraud and greed. Fortunately, the market quickly adjusted for this when the crap eventually hit the fan. Third, the answer to what solutions are advisable is complex. Strict CEO liability is tempting, but unreasonable and impossible. Audits can only generate an opinion as to the reliability of financial statements; they are not a guarantee or an insurance policy. The solution is not more detailed accounting rules (eg the tax code), but actually a return to more general accounting concepts as this will allow the accounting profession to exercise and enforce better rules of disclosure instead of having their hands tied by technical rules. One last solution to consider is that auditors must get away from making their audit services loss leaders in order to get the more lucrative consulting services. This means more money for auditors and more costly audits, not less. Finally, one must remember that there is always a lag time between new industries and economies (eg internet based businesses) and the maturation of the accounting rules and concepts that deal with these new developments. In the end, there is little role for government in this area. The best solution is to allow the market to do its thing (as it already has), and to allow the professionals to develop the proper course of action as opposed to a knee jerk political response that is certain to miss the mark.

It'd be nice to crack down on the Enron's of the world, but many other issues on this list are priority.

The issue of corporate governance is an important one. The regulatory structure above all must allow for transparency in corporate accounting practices. It is only fair for stockholders and investors to know the acutal finacial standing of a corporation. Broadly, the corporate governance system is well designed, it has to be if it can produce one of the greatest economic engines the world has ever known. Yet the bankruptcy of Enron and Global Crossing have taught us some very important lessons that I'm not too sure that policymakers have fully grasped on to yet. I think that the problem can be isolated to one main issue; as corporations have grown in size, the shareholders have less of a stake in the daily operations of the company, specifically the selection of the board of directors and the CEO. Most shares are sold for investment purposes, not for controlling a company. In other words, too much power is concentrated at the top of corporations; CEO's can mostly select the board from their own picks, strategy is set by the CEO, and most importantly, they set up the accounting practices that determine the financial health of the company. A lot depends on the objectivity of the CEO; if the company is not so healthy, there is an incentive for him or her to overlook the numbers. The standard for legal censure simply just can't be mere recklessness, it has to include negligence if we expect any legitimate accountability for CEO's who decide to deceive the public. There has to be internal controls to act as checks and balances within the corporation; auditors have to certify that the corporate strategy being utilized is the best practice, and if it isn't, tell the stockholders why. You need transparency in order for the system to work; when power is too concentrated within corporate chain of immense corporations like Enron, then you need tougher disclosure standards. Credibility is key here.

My views have changed some on this. I see this as a natural result of bad policies. Washington has become a bit like the wolves tending the flock of sheep. It is governments job to do this right, but voters have become so apathetic that $$ runs elections. If we all tended the wolves, we wouldn't have nearly as much of this problem. We have to WAKE UP and work quickly, however, before wealth and political power consolidate to a point that is irreversible.

Yes. CEOs must be reigned in.

Very important. But with crooks like Cheney in office, it will never be addressed. He'd have to prosecute himself.

The true rulers of the USA need to be more closely hounded.

So some people say that there is nothing that can be done about this, there's too much "grey area" and business must go on, after all laisse-faire is best and we are a capitalistic society. So it's OK to steal billions from people and ruin thousands of dreams and hopes and not even get jail time because the almighty dollar comes first. While we have prisons full of non-violent drug users, these genteel criminals can carry on knowing that probably nothing will happen. It sure sounds great, but I'd hate to be Ken Lay or Bernie Ebbers knocking at heaven's pearly gates in the afterlife. Maybe Bush won't punish his buddies, but they will be punished, one way or another.

Is it a extremely important issue? Yes, definetely. Is it a political issue? Of course not. The government dosent handle everything, folks. Last time I checked, this wasen't a communist state.

You know what? I used to be stupid. I used to believe that corporation worked logically and honestly. I used to believe that they actually cared about us. And guess what: I miss that time. Ever since Enron I've been untrusting and paranoid of all the corporations. It wasn't so much the fraud issue, but that a company could voluntarily make such a move with the approval of most of the executives. It made me think, "What if Firestone actually CHOSE to put the defective tires on their cars? What if Oreo CHOSE to put that unhealty stuff in their cookies?" Now, I don't buy food or any possibly dangerous products from major corporations. What if they've voluntarily decided to sell Mad Cow meat? What if they've chosen to sell infected CHEESE? I love cheese, and I can't even trust Kraft anymore. This whole Enron thing has gotten me more paranoid than the Biological weapons thing!

i am just surprised everyone was so surprised when all this canme out.this how companied make their money.it is called falsication of records

What sense does it make to put a bunch of fraudulent politicians in charge of rectifying corporate fraud? This would be as logical as putting Al Capone in charge of the Better Business Bureau.

How long are we going to let the CEO's undermine the economy? Hell, yes, make then accountable (no pun intended).

Corporations are legal constructs that are designed to give companies, associations, etc. the same rights and RESPONSIBILITIES as individuals. If I as an individual am subject to imprisonment should I commit fraud, tax evasion, or other abuses, then lawbreaking corporate entities should be held equally accountable, prosecuted just as rigorously, and sanctioned just as severely, in proportion to the severity of the crime. If a street criminal can get 20 years for sticking a gun in my face and stealing my wallet, the corporate criminals who stole millions of dollars deserve no less.

We need to start cracking down on these scumbags. Their lack of morals makes me sick. Its really unfortunate that our current president not only supports and was supported by these guys, but that he actually was one of them. By all means click on my screen name and send me personal messages if you disagree with me.

Put the bastards in jail. All of 'em. Better yet, he highest branch, the stoutest rope, I say!

Magellan makes good points on this one. Its an important issue, and there's no apologizing for the betrayal of trust we've seen in corporations and other respected institutions. But political grandstanding usually produces bad consequences and this is what is going on with this issue. The press is also starting to see phantom scandles in every grey area of accounting -- and believe me, there are lots of grey areas. (I know of one study that had 40 IRS agents audit the same books and come back with 40 different "corrected" results.) There are probably some reforms that could be made to increase transparency, but I don't know that expensing options is one of them. There are certainly execs that deserve jailtime but threatening to haul CEOs to jail if there are any errors imbedded in impossibly complex financials seems pretty unfair from where I stand. In all, we should be proud of this painful weeding out of the corrupt and worthless. Japan's failure to do this (instead sending good money after bad to prop up their banks, etc.) has led to 10 years of stagnation. We just need to hope that there aren't more of these timebombs hidden. For those who do want to make a political issue out of all this, it does strike me as odd that the one guy who seems not to be in trouble is former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin, who became chairman of CitiGroup's exec committee after leaving the Clinton administration. To my knowledge, he's the only political star who did something obviously corrupt -- asking the current Treasury Dept to lean on the credit ratings agencies to boost their ratings of Enron's debt (so CitiGroup could recoup the billions it extended to Enron and unload on an unsuspecting public). He didn't succeed but that smells like a scandle and its interesting that Joe Lieberman doesn't see fit to call him to give testimony before the Senate....

I don't see this as a political issue at all. Increased regulation will only serve to increase the size of the government and make it harder and more expensive to do business - a two headed tax if you will. The only real control for corporate fraud needs to be the control of the markets. When corporate fraud is exposed, the markets wreak their wrath - whether it be a telecom giant like Worldcom being sent to the verge of bankruptcy or a 100 year old company like Anderson being all but crippled by the shaky ethics of its executives. There is no better control for corporate fraud than what we are seeing the market do to the parties involved.