Bad Business
Reading comments on a post last week at Captain’s Quarters revealed pronounced conservative sentiment and a range of reactions to subjects like Sarbanes-Oxley. Whether conservative or not, it seems that the business community should not be against accountability. This is not a suggestion that conservatives or business leaders should be all in favor of rules of engagement specified by Sarbanes-Oxley. Especially if the legislation is flawed like much of what comes out of Congress.
But to be opposed to accountability entirely is another matter. In the piece below from WaPo there is only mention of a sentiment from the US Chamber of Commerce to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. No where does it report the desire to modify or reform the legislation or to have grievances heard. And no where has there been a call for self-policing or a counter proposal to current legislation in the form of measurable business practices that could substitute or alleviate complaints from business over government regulation. No, the simple demand is a repeal of Sarbanes-Oxley. Which could give the impression that the legislation is appropriate and doing what business won’t do for itself.
If there were no problems with plain old-fashioned honesty and common sense in business, there is little chance that politics would have been able to pass strict enforcement legislation. Because it exists and business organizations are complaining about it and demanding repeal is evidence by itself that the law is effective. And the central argument or promotion of the “action week” by the US Chamber as addressing competitiveness of American business suggests the demand for repeal is a desire to not play by the rules to be successful. It is always more painful to be coerced to do the right thing than to be honest and do it voluntarily. If you can’t play by the rules and be successful then maybe your business plan or model was flawed from the beginning. In other words, if you have to cheat to remain competitive then your endeavor is not worthwhile and no amount of condoning bad behavior will change that.
It is often quoted that being conservative includes the desire for limited government. One of the best ways to encourage limited government is not to cause the need for more government by your own actions. But then maybe there is a false claim of conservatism that merely desires less government to be allowed to do whatever they damn well please.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Businesses Prepare to Mount a Concerted Attack on Regulation
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 12, 2007; A02Call it the end of the post-Enron era.
A major anti-regulatory offensive culminates this week with a one-two punch thrown by Washington and Wall Street’s most moneyed institutions, as the Treasury Department convenes a star-studded meeting tomorrow and the nation’s largest business lobby issues its own call to action a day later.
At the top of the agenda are ways to “secure America’s competitiveness.”
Translation: Burdensome rules, costly litigation and hard-nosed prosecutors are killing U.S. companies.