The Ethics Of Fraud -- Sarbanes-Oxley

Fraud is a problem that cannot be legislated away. Additional regulations cost companies more money, but often don't add any substantive benefits related to fraud prevention and detection.

Fraud prevention is enhanced by moving toward a more ethical corporate culture in conjunction with policies and procedures that truly prevent fraud. Substantive internal controls specifically designed to reduce and eliminate fraud are the key. Companies should actively work toward improving anti-fraud efforts with or without regulations because fraud prevention is good for business.

Tracy Coenen

Is Reaganonics Melting Away?

"A little history: The core principles of conservative economic ideology are grounded in Nobel economist Milton Friedman's 1962 classic "Capitalism and Freedom." Too late to stop President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, those principles became the battle cries energizing conservatives since Reagan: Unrestricted free markets, free enterprise and free trade; deregulation, privatization and globalization; trickle-down economics and trickle-up wealth to an elite plutocracy destined to rule the new American capitalist utopia.

So what happened? Are you guys nuts? Hey, I'm talking to all you blind Beltway politicians (in both parties) ... plus the Old Boys Club running Wall Street (into the ground) ... plus all you fat-cat CEOs (with megamillion parachutes) ... and all your buddies scamming everybody else to get on the Forbes 400. You are proof of Lord Acton's warning: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
It's backfiring! You folks turned our America from a great capitalistic democracy into a meddling socialist economy. Still you don't get it. You're acting like teen addicts tripping on an overdose of "greed-is-good" testosterone while your caricature of conservative economics would at best make a one-line joke on Jay Leno. "

Paul B. Farrell
MarketWatch

Read the 11 reasons the current market manipulations are sabotaging the principles of leaders like Friedman and Reagan.

Borderline Scientists Tackle The Big Questions

Dr. In The Know writes...

Dr. Chris writes...
Dr. Sunny writes...

If we drill in ANWR, will the extracted oil only be sold in the US market? If the oil is sold only in the US market, will it be sold at a cost-plus basis or will it be sold at some outrageous price driven by wild speculation driven by military intervention by oil men sitting in the White House? Would it make sense to consider ANWR as an oil reserve of the last resort? Are the mathematical results presented by the OnTheBorderLine doctors satire or reduction to the absurd? When was the last time the OTBL doctors had a science class and what grade did they receive? After all, scientific experts usually have background and training in their field of expertise.

Clearing The Air On Free-Market Capitalism

In Beijing, you will be able to taste the Olympics, but you might not be able to see them...



With 10 days to go until the Beijing Olympics opens, the smog simply refuses to lift and the Games organisers are preparing emergency measures to clear the air ahead of the big day.

The traffic on the streets of Beijing is noticeably lighter, and many of the big steelworks and coal-fired power stations have been silenced. But the capital was still enveloped yesterday in a haze that restricted visibility to a couple of hundred yards.

For years the authorities have been trying to clear the yellow-tinged smog masking the city, including a recent batch of measures as a quick-fix solution. "We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance if the air quality deteriorates," Li Xin, a senior engineer with the environmental bureau, told the China Daily newspaper.

Read more...

Maybe they can hold the Olympics in Pittsburgh...

Church Killer -- Confused About Liberals & Conservatives

"It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred of the liberal movement."

Sterling Owen
Police Chief
Knowville, TN


Jim Adkisson, the out-of-work truck driver who killed two kids in a Tennesse church on Sunday, is obviously confused about the meaning of the word "liberal." Adkisson apparently targeted the church because of its liberal policies that include the acceptance of gays.

The 58-year-old truck driver was on the verge of losing his food stamps. Let's see, food stamps are one of those liberal programs that the conseervatives are constantly trying to eliminate. The church were he did the shooting has been feeding the homeless and hungry.

He was unable to obtain a job. Let's see, job programs and job training programs are associated with liberals. So it would be the liberals trying to help him. Conservatives are the ones who think we need do without these programs and pick ourselves up by the bootstraps.

Of course, Adkisson did have two drunk driving convictions. These convictions could attributed to liberal policies, because conservatives tend to fight lowering the limits for a DUI. Likewise, the fact that he treatened to blow his wife's brains out and still had his guns could be attributed to conservative policies. It's a crazy man Constitutional right to own guns.

And so it goes...

Read more....

The Push To Ban Crack: Racist or Ridiculous

Saggy-pants ban violates civil liberties




"...There are a number of theories about how and why the baggy-pants look became popular, although the consensus is that it originated in prisons. Prison clothing given to inmates tended to be oversized, and since they were not allowed belts because of the risk of using them to commit suicide, their trousers often sagged and hung very low. Hip-hop artists adopted the look to signal toughness, intimidation and rebellion against authority while gang-bangers are said to favour it because it is easier to conceal weapons or drugs. It is easy to understand why some, such as Dicks, see a link between sagging pants and delinquency. The problem, however, is that there is no evidence to prove a direct relationship between the two. Gang members may indeed wear baggy pants, but it is not the wearing of baggy trousers that causes them to join gangs or commit crimes..."

Read more by Lola Adesioye.


Learn even more...

Mixing The Bag Of Capitalism

Is government intervention the answer? It was last week, when the federal government decided to prop up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

If the government hadn’t made that move, some economists believe the fear of a recession could easily have morphed into the reality of a depression.A UC Davis professor’s summation of America’s attitude about government intervention is worth mentioning here — we don’t completely trust the free-market system, but it seems better, overall, than socialism, in which Big Brother calls all the shots.

Still, President Bush is correct. America’s economy is fundamentally sound — even though some of our industrial and business stalwarts will not survive these tough times.And we’re likely headed into even tougher situations. Consumers will be forced to make difficult choices, and because of those choices, some big business names will cease to exist. That’s how a free market works — and how it should work.

Our government leaders need to do what they can to help us through this rough patch. But they should let the free-market concept do its thing. If only the strong survive, then we will come out of this stronger. If we cave in, and cede all power and authority to Big Brother, government will be the only winner.

Read more @ The Lompoc Record.