Washington DC (BUSINESS WEEK) -- President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations.
In other words when I am investing in a US company the information I have may not be complete!
In other words I am investing blind!
Personally the point is moot as we haven't invested in the US for a number of years, and now we won't be investing there until they respect financial disclosure.
However the concern is that is just another step in the war on terror that is slowly reducing America to a country that only respects certain rules – the ones that authorities think are not a threat to security. Now security is desirable – but at what stage do people starting asking about the price of that security? First it was detention without trial, then torture, then phone tapping and now companies can do as they wish in the name of security!
Of course the real irony is that this story broke two days before the Enron duo were convicted and Deputy US Attorney General Paul McNulty commented "Lay, Skilling and their numerous co-conspirators perpetrated an elaborate scheme to mislead analysts and investors about Enron's true financial picture.”
Well bad news for the Deputy US Attorney General - misleading analysts and investors is all about the war on terror.
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