Hightower Lowdown

Wow, Little George really told off the Enroners and WorldComers, didn’t he? He went up to Wall Street, got all scowly-faced, and scolded those bad boys!
To yank this corrupt corporate system back into line, he says he’s creating a “Corporate Fraud Task Force.” I didn’t know whether to laugh, scream, or go bowling.

This is posturing at its most embarrassing. Why does he think the honchos of Enron, WorldCom and the rest felt free to be such grasping greedheads? Because for more than 20 years, Washington has enthusiastically pushed to dismantle protections that workers, retirees, investors, and taxpayers need against the corporate wrongdoing W. now so loudly decries.

Where was his disgust with the Ken Lays in 2000, when Bush was pocketing more corporate campaign cash than any candidate in history? Where was his zeal to “root out corruption” last year, when he tried to eliminate 57 regulatory positions at the SEC and appointed an industry lapdog to head this oversight agency?
Bush talked big, but his proposals are a joke. He’s doubling the jail term for corporate crime to 10 years, but these crooks never even get five. And his tiny task force will be buried deep in the Justice Department, where it’ll be toothless.