20th Jun 2002

Must See TV: ‘Bigger Than

Must See TV: ‘Bigger Than Enron’ on PBS

Just finished watching the PBS Frontline documentary expose “Bigger Than Enron,” by correspondent Hedrick Smith. Amazing. If you missed it, you must go to PBS.org (via link above) and find out when it is rebroadcasting in your area.

First rate investigative journalism. Top level access to key players, including past and present chairmen of the SEC, Andersen CEO Joseph Berardino and many other luminaries who, presented with the smoking gun, basically fess up about just how egregiously Corporate America has been and continues to ride the American people doggie style. Total breakdown in fundamental moral values. Greed. I’m not a religious guy, but isn’t that one of the 7 deadly sins?

Clear moral of the story: nothing has changed. Bush’s new man at the SEC, Harvey Pitt, is toeing the auditor’s line on the question of breaking apart auditing and consulting (among other issues, but that one’s key). In the seven months since Enron broke, nothing but cosmitics have changed in the system that makes Enron-style accounting abuse so commonplace, as the documentary makes abundantly clear.

Favorite quote: Andersen CEO Berardino: “People are always asking me how I can sleep at night. I tell them I sleep like a baby: I wake up every two hours and cry.”


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