By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – As I was driving in my car yesterday, I heard the news of the apparent suicide of another Energy Company executive. My heart sank to my stomach. Though today it is reported that this unnecessary death was unrelated to the company's woes, I couldn't help thinking, it is time for Corporate America to take a good long hard look at itself. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
Last January, former Enron vice chairman Clifford Baxter took his own life. Then yesterday, Houston-based El Paso Company treasurer Charles Dana Rice apparently did the same. Last week, El Paso revealed a restructuring plan that would shift the focus away from its energy trading operations. They too are being scrutinized for their accounting and financial practices. In fact, most of the energy trading industry is being accused of bogus trading, and CEO's everywhere are resigning as investigations grow. So what went wrong?
Earlier this year, I was talking to neighbor of mine who works for one the big banks in Texas. She's a bigwig in the corporate loan department. I asked her, what are the criteria she uses for processing these loans. She said one thing. "Investor return." Investor return - stock market value.
When did we make the bottom line more important than a person's integrity? Maybe when we started to give stock options and bonuses - huge bonuses - based on the bottom line. The finagling of books was strictly to keep the investor investing in a company that wasn't really performing as well as they said they were. And for doing that, the powerful were getting reimbursed.
Now the light is shining through every crack and crevice of this once solid block. And you know - this is good. You can't clean anything up in the dark. I believe that if the investor is in for the long haul he or she can handle the initial pain. But as the people that exercised the deceptive practices are also brought into the light they need to deal with the pain of shame and regret with a hope towards the future.
A return in investor confidence will only come when the whole truth is revealed. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 P.M.