Is The U.S. Government Capable Of Corporate Oversight?

In 2002, overrun by corporate scandal and falsified accounting from the Enrons and World Coms, the public raised a huge outcry and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, making senior officers liable for their firms' financial statements, to the point of potentially going to jail for falsifying their numbers.

How did that work out? Not so well as AIG, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Chrysler, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, General Motors and numerous other "too big to fail" firms filed fantasy financial statements with no-one but the U.S. taxpayer being held accountable. Big Bonuses to top management, rather than jail sentences have been the order of the day.

You might wonder where was the Securities and Exchange Commission while these corporate horror shows  have gone on? Apparently missing in bureaucratic inaction. As you watch the British Petroleum environmental disaster and ask yourself where was the Mineral Management Services Agency or wonder what became of the Environmental Protection Agency, the answer is the same.

Our political system is so badly broken, that campaign contributions can excuse some of the worst violations of the law, while shifting responsibility to America's working classes, the people who pay most of the taxes and make this nation function.

The answer is to change the system but this can only happen if the people get involved. Casting a vote for a two party monopoly charismatic politician who glibly promises "change" and "transparency" brings neither. If we as a people want better, we need to support third and forth political parties and provide public financing for elections, ending anything but nominal private campaign contributions.

This has been a great nation and it can be again but only if the people care enough to make it so. If they do, they will help to ensure their children and grandchildren have the promise of a better future, much as they received from the World War ll generation. The spirit and substance of what tomorrow will be depends upon the actions we take today.

Dick