Do you think VERY VERY VERY harsh penalties will stop corporate offenders?

[Last Conformist]

Harsher punishment matters little, since they assume they won't get caught.

[Dr Strangelove]

Bah! All that will happen is that relatively minor offenders like Martha Stewart will be made scapegoats and be torturesd.

[Kuciwalker]

Torturing Martha Stewart

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Frankychan
The revocation and liquidation of 80-90% of their assests should do the trick.

(They can keep that 10-20%, and it would still be sizeable).

The liquidation of their assests then go toward lowering the national debt. That way, their money goes to something good...or the funds go to social programs and funding of our various governmental departments.





There, wasn't that simple?

Bahhh! Why should it go to the government? For that matter, why should fines already paid by Enron etc. be made payable to the governement. Give it to the victims, namely stockholders and employee stockholders.

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
Harsher punishment matters little, since they assume they won't get caught.

They are buisnessmen, they calculate risk VS reward on a daily basis. Maybe the risk vs reward equation will be too high for them if their life is on the line.

[JohnT]

Vasayen, that OP was so laughably ignorant it's hardly worth rebutting.

[Vesayen]

What is ignorant? I support penalties so harsh on corporate offenders that they will die after lenghty, painfull torture to ensure it stops. Penalties so harsh no one would dare risk them.

After the first one is televised, I doubt we'll see a second.




OH and complete amnesty to any corporate offender who comes forward to confess without being investigated-if he can help us indite others.

Oh the fun ensues as various corporate big wigs turn on each other to save their rears....

[JohnT]

C'mon, you just said that you don't support the death penalty on someone who would rape and kill my three year-old child, but would gladly see the death penalty applied for violations of (for ex.) FASB rule 35, section 2, revision 13, applied to the realization of revenues and losses of off-book Special Purpose Entities*.



*A made-up example.

[Vesayen]

Do you think executing the person who would rape your child, would stop others from doing it? Of course not, anyone who would do that is deranged and unconcerned with the consequences-or thinks it will not happen to them. Violent crimes tend to be crimes of passion and not premeditated.

[JohnT]

OH and complete amnesty to any corporate offender who comes forward to confess without being investigated-if he can help us indite others.

Which didn't do Mark Whitacre a bit of good when he exposed an international price-fixing scam involving ADM and other international companies. He, too, got indicted for price fixing even though he wore a wire for over 2 years, even though his evidence secured over $100million in fines, even though without him there would never have been a case.

Of course, Whitacre was a ****-up as well, but he was still granted immunity from the price-fixing charges, immunity that was pulled when the FBI decided it had enough non-Whitacre evidence to convict.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Vesayen
Do you think executing the person who would rape your child, would stop others from doing it? Of course not, anyone who would do that is deranged and unconcerned with the consequences-or thinks it will not happen to them.

Of course not. Nor will it bring my child back.

In rebuttal, do you think executing people for theft will stop others from doing it?

That which you are arguing as ineffective in one example you are claiming to be effective in another, lesser, example. Quite an inconsistent position you've put yourself in!

[Vesayen]

No, I am very consistent. Violent crimes are usually crimes of passion and not planned for.

Financial crimes are always premeditated. More importantly, anyone who commits a financial crime ala Enron who got to such a high level, is mentally competant enough to know the risk.



Violent criminals are unconcerned because of either the passion of the crime or mental issues. Corporate offenders are neither of those.

[Vesayen]

ALSO corporate offenders think they are not risking anything right now... and they are not. Even if they are caught their jail sentences are short and they can usually squirel away some money. Now they know if they are caught, there is consequence.

[MrFun]

Vesayen isn't making sense in this thread.

[St Leo]

Ves, people don't wake up one day and rationally decide to embezzle billions. True -- it's not a compulsion, but it's still something that is part of a journey rather than a huge hurdle.