Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- A Blast at Capitalist Culture Vanguard founder: 'Time for Bluntness' ======================================By Jeff Richgels October 2, 2003 by the Madison Capital Times http://www.madison.com/toolbox/index.php?action=printme&ref=captimes&storyURL=/captimes/business/stories/57961.php A titan of American capitalism delivered a stinging critique of American capitalism in Madison on Wednesday. But John Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and father of the index mutual fund, also offered a plan to fix it as he spoke at the Directors' Summit conference on corporate governance at UW-Madison. "The fact is, in America today it is high time for bluntness," said the feisty Bogle, who showed none of the frailty that might be expected from a 74-year-old heart transplant recipient. Reciting the litany of recent corporate scandals - from Enron to Tyco to WorldCom to the New York Stock Exchange - Bogle said that "in the 1990s our whole system broke down." With boards of directors failing to act in the interests of the shareholders they ostensibly represent, our system of "ownership capitalism" became one of "management capitalism," where the profits went not to shareholders as they should but to executives receiving outrageously excessive compensation, Bogle said. >From 1988-2001, he said, workers' compensation increased 60 percent - just slightly above inflation - while CEO compensation soared 443 percent. "Little good comes from when the CEO becomes not only boss of the business but boss of the board as well," Bogle said. "Don't be surprised when the looting begins." Even worse, the excessive executive compensation did not correspond with any appreciable corporate achievements, he said. "Simply no evidence possibly justifies the outrageous compensation increases bestowed on corporate leaders," Bogle roared. While a "few bad apples" caused immense harm, their exposure had a benefit, Bogle said. "We owe a perverse kind of debt to the fallen apples for illuminating the cracks in the barrel of capitalism," he said. "We're all better off now that it's out in the open." While directors may have abdicated their responsibility in overseeing companies, the owners - shareholders - have the ultimate responsibility "and should have stepped in." In America today, shareholders essentially means institutional investors such as mutual funds and pension funds: The 100 largest own 56 percent of U.S. equities, Bogle said. But they did nothing during the stock market bubble, he said. "The only sound we heard was the sound of silence," Bogle said. And that's because they became a part of the problem, he added, as evidenced by the scandal uncovered by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that has engulfed Milwaukee-based Strong Capital Management, among others. As in some of the businesses they owned shares in, "the interests of the managers prevailed" at the funds, rather than the interests of the investors, Bogle said. Short-term trading and portfolio turnover to produce fees won out over long-term investing in pursuit of corporate value, said Bogle, who called the change "from stewardship to salesmanship." "It was not always that way but it became so in the 1990s," he said. "I hope the recent scandal helps this industry return to its proud past." Bogle urged a return to "corporate democracy" with enhanced shareholder rights. "The cause is not lost," he said in laying out eight ideas for reform: Encouraging corporate citizenship; clearly separating ownership from management; returning to a long-term business focus rather than quarter-to- quarter earnings; fixing the stock option mess; letting sunlight shine on accounting; bringing back dividends; reforming the fund industry; and "institutions of the world unite" in pursuit of corporate governance. "We have eroded the character of capitalism yet character is what we need more than ever today," Bogle said. Copyright � 2003 Capital Newspapers __________________________________________________________________ McAfee VirusScan Online from the Netscape Network. Comprehensive protection for your entire computer. Get your free trial today! http://channels.netscape.com/ns/computing/mcafee/index.jsp?promo=393397 Get AOL Instant Messenger 5.1 free of charge. Download Now! http://aim.aol.com/aimnew/Aim/register.adp?promo=380455 portside (the left side in nautical parlance) is a news, discussion and debate service of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. It aims to provide varied material of interest to people on the left. Post : mail to '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subscribe : mail to '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Unsubscribe : mail to '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Faq : http://www.portside.org List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web address : <http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/portside> Digest mode : visit Web site Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
--- End Message ---
