Last week we learned that George W. Bush got his wealth the same way he got the presidency: It was handed to him by his connections. Now he’s paying them back.
His latest gift to them is a corporate crimes “S.W.A.T. team” that is as likely to stop corporate crime as Osama bin Laden is likely to convert to Christianity.
One member is Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill. Do you remember what O’Neill said about Enron workers losing their pensions while company officers sold their stock in time to make $1.1 billion? He said, “That’s the genius of capitalism.”
Another member of the S.W.A.T. team is Harvey Pitt. Before Bush appointed him chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Pitt was a Washington lawyer who represented Arthur Anderson, Enron’s accountants. Since Mr. Pitt sees no conflict of interest when accountants are paid huge consulting fees by the companies whose books they audit, I can’t see him doing much swatting.
Dick Gephardt reminded us that the No. 1 goal of the 1995 Congressional Republicans’ “Contract With America” was to deregulate American business. Under the leadership of Newt Gingrich in the House and Phil Gramm in the Senate, they succeeded, with President Clinton and his S.E.C. chairman, Arthur Levitt, fighting them every step of the way.
Let business regulate itself and you get unfettered greed. Teddy Roosevelt knew that, but he was almost the last Republican who objected. (We’ve still got John McCain.)
After Bush’s speech on corporate crime, Tom Daschle said, “The President speaks loudly and carries a small stick.” That small stick is a semaphore with which Bush signaled his rich friends that as long as he is in charge, nothing much is going to change.
Oak Harbor
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