From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Mon Jul 01 2002 - 23:23:57 MDT
Emlyn O'regan wrote:
>Why, in all the commentary about big business naughtiness, does everyone
>lament that "we can't trust even the biggest and most established
>corporations"? I would have taken it as a given that you couldn't trust
>them;
>
Emlyn, what they mean is the big businesses can no longer be trusted to make
the investors a profit. Whatever big business does is fine and dandy,
so long as the stock prices keep going up. As soon as they can no
longer be trusted to generate wealth, then they must answer for this
broken trust.
> if they care about our trust at all, it is more that they care that we
>trust them, and don't find out what they are really doing.
>
Nor do we care what they are doing, so long as they are making
investors money.
>How come this is news? Why are people jumping up and down about how the
>public will lose faith in the system?
>
See above.
> Good grief... this kind of behaviour
>is so clearly implied by the business environment.
>
Roger that. Investing is a lot like gambling. It doesn't matter
the nature of the game. Dont take it too seriously.
> So WorldCom diddled its books;
>
Sure it did. This was predictable based on companies
abandoning the practice of paying dividends on stock. When that
went out of style, it set the stage for the current debacle.
spike
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