Brads Blog

Every other week, the news reports of another corporate scandal, of another Fortune 500 company filing bankruptcy and of another high profile executive found guilty of ethics violations. Most recently, Martha Stewart was the latest CEO that has been found guilty of insider trading and giving false testimony to federal investigators. Martha Stewart and these other convicted corporate executives may be white collar; however, are criminals none the less.

Stewart was convicted on the following counts:

- Giving false statements. Stewart lied when she told the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI and federal prosecutors.

- Conspiracy. Stewart “willfully and knowingly” obstructed justice and made false statements.

- Obstruction of justice. Stewart “willfully and knowingly” tried to hamper the SEC investigation of her stock sale by providing misleading information. (Convicted)

What is really disheartening about the Martha Stewart case, is the sentence that was given. Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and two years’ probation. In addition, Stewart was ordered to serve five months of home confinement and fined $30,000.00

The difficult question is how to hold CEO’s and other corporate leaders accountable for their actions. When the judicial system hands down federally mandated minimum sentences for crimes committed, compared to their multi-million dollar salaries, there’s very little incentive for CEO’s to do the right, morally and ethical “thing”. In the Stewart trial, it was Stewart and her financial advisors who faced criminal charges; however, the company lost millions and over two hundred of Stewart’s employees lost their jobs. In some cases, CEO’s that are found guilty of criminal and ethical violations, the consequences were much worse.

When a gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India killed thousands in 1984, human rights activists and environmentalists asked government officials to extradite Warren Anderson, CEO of the company. Anderson was to be held personally liable for cost-cutting measures that led to the closure of some safety systems in the plant; systems some say could have prevented the leak. Those arguments continue today, almost two decades later, with Anderson over the age of 80. (Corporate)

There have been other CEO’s who’ve been in the hot-seat. Actually, hundreds of companies have lost millions of dollars and have filed bankruptcy, while their CEO has been cashing out “big-time”. The following have made the news recently:

- While KMART is closing 284 stores and laying off 22,000 w/o transfers or severance pay, CEO Chuck Conaway walked away with a $9,500,000 on top of a 2000 compensation of $29,356,489.

- GE has not contributed to it’s workers pension plan since 1987, yet CEO Jack Walsh walked away with a pension benefit of $10,000,000 a year for the rest of his life on top of a 2001 compensation of $16,246,772.

– Enron barred workers from selling company stock in their 401(k)s as the company plunged into bankruptcy. Thousands of Enron workers lost their jobs, their health insurance and their life savings and still CEO Ken Lay cashed out at $123,000,000 in stock options and on top of total compensation of $33,533,468.

In 2002, the average CEO compensation package equaled $10.83 million according to The New York Times. While pay cuts for the most richly rewarded CEOs reduced the size of the average compensation package, most CEOs actually got pay raises. Median CEO pay increased by 6 percent in 2002—more than twice the growth of workers’ paychecks. And while shareholders—including workers who depend on the stock market for their retirement savings and pensions—have lost $7 trillion since the stock market peak, today’s CEO pay packages are roughly equal to their pre-bear market levels. (People)

With such large compensation packages and minimum sentencing judgments, there is little incentive for people like Martha Stewart and other industry giants to act ethically. Law makers must create tougher laws to persuade CEO’s to act ethically and within the law. Furthermore, the judicial system must award tougher punishments to CEO’s.

Today’s review in the Titanium Ring Review Series is the Titanium Engagement Ring e6.

This is not your traditional engagement ring. Instead of a band with a stone set on a prong mount, the 5 stones(2mm, 1.5mm and 1mm) are actually embedded in the band.

There are three available finishes for the inside of this band. They are satin, polished and matte.

The same three options are available for the outside of the band.

Ring sizes for this ring range from 1 to 14. If you are uncertain of the size you wear, they can send you a ring sizer.

You can select the width from between 3.5 and 9.5mm.

This ring is for sale for $949.00 on the Titanium Rings Studio Website.

I was in a conversation with my brother the other day, and we were discussing soy milk (Silk) and the fact that there are those out there who will argue that Soy is actually bad for you, causes certain ailments and we are all doomed.

They say the Federal government will have egg on it’s face when all the African nations we send aid to in the form of Soy, start showing certain symptoms.

The mere thought of this is ridiculous.

Why not come out and say that broccoli is bad for you?

I believe these are the same people who will argue that smoking cigarettes and drinking extreme quantities of beer are actually good for you.

The conspiracy Theorist inside me is going nuts ever since Bolivia elected its new president, Evo Morales. Evo Morales has promised to be a nightmare for the United States. Here is something for you to chew on, as I have.

1-1-06 This week gets underway by the announcement that Evo Morales aligns politically with Cuban President Fidel Castro. He tops it off with a special meeting with Bush-hater Hugo Chavez, who is the Venuzuelan President turned dictator.

On the other side of the Axis of Evil, North Korea’s President/Dictator Kim Jong-il is making a secret trip to China and Russia.

This is all happening as Evo Morales is also scheduled to visit China.

It seems all of America’s favorites are meeting up to discuss “issues”. I would sure like to be a fly on the wall when they all sit down together, as does the Bush administration.

When they start getting together with Iran and Syria, I don’t think it will be ignored anymore.

Are they planning something? Or am I just reaching.

While on my recent trip to Indianapolis, I met with someone who is Vice President of a community Homeowners Association, who I will call “Ted” in this post. He was explaining some of the guidelines that homeowners in his community are required to adhere to. I was reminded of when I lived in another community and there were local ordnances that seemed to be a bit extreme.

In the community I once lived, yard signs were prohibited over a certain size.(I think it was 12”x16”) This meant that if I have a cute pink Easter Bunny decoration posted in my front yard, I could be subject to a fine. I brought this point up to Ted and he explained that they have no problems with this type of sign. His point was he wanted to restrict signs, mostly in the community common areas, and their goal was to reduce/eliminate the signs of local home builders and that sort of signage.

In my old community, if you went away for vacation and left you grass growing, the city would come and cut it and send you the bill. Yes, they can do that. This is the sort of crap that drove me out of the neighborhood.

I could agree with Ted on most of his points. I appreciated the fact that the main goal of the Home owners association was to ensure the properties maintained their property value, and kept their community neat and clean in appearance.

I should only hope that there is full disclosure when someone purchases a home in one of these areas. Not only for the fact that nearly all of these associations charge dues, but you are restricted to what you can do on your own property.

When I moved into my old community, I was not aware of many of the special ordnances imposed by the city.

Millions of tax dollars are spent each year to clean litter from the nation’s roadways. State and local governments should impose and more importantly, enforce tougher laws to deter littering. Littering negatively affects the environment and is a horrible eye-sore.

It is estimated that one in three people litter. This should raise grave concern over the urgent requirement to impose and to enforce tougher laws against littering. In most states, littering may carry a $500.00 fine. Additionally, repeat offenders may be fined up to $2000.00 and sentenced up to 180 days in jail. However, highways and roadsides are still littered. Forty-eight states have Adopt-A-Highway programs where volunteers work to keep approximately half of the state highways cleaned. States pay on average $25,000,000.00 to clean-up their roadsides.

Imposing tougher laws and enforcing steeper fines would deter littering offenders. “Litterbugs” who litter from their vehicle should be fined $1000.00, lose their driving privileges for thirty days and jailed for twenty-four hours. Additionally, pedestrians who litter the roadways should also be fined and jailed.

While I was giving some thought to appointing RASS as guest blogger, I thought “why not let others have the opportunity?” and that’s what I’ve decided to do.

If you’d like to be a guest blogger, you can Submit your posts to me. I’m not going to promise that your post will get published, but I’ll give it an fair shot! If I feel your article is compatible with Bradsblog, then I’ll make it happen.

I feel it’s necessary to establish a few ground rules.

1. Articles submitted must be original and written by you. I’m not going to publish a post that was also posted on other blogs.
2. I do not intend to edit your post, but if there is something minor that needs tweaked, I’ll do it. (grammer, spelling, etc)

Emailing your post to me will get your foot in the door. If I like your style, I’ll promote your user status so you’ll be able to just sign in and post.

The Next ring I’ll be reviewing as part of the Titanium Ring Review series will be the Unique Wedding Ring w16. These rings, as well as a lot of others, are offered for sale on the Titanium Rings Studio website.

The design of this particular ring is quite unique. It features a single colored inner channel, surrounded by two gold channels. You have the option of having the inner channel color blue, black, or just leave if the natural titanium color.

There are three finishing options for the inside of the band. They are polished, matte or satin.

The same style finish is also available for the outside.

The size of this ring can be ordered from 1 to 14, and a sizer can be sent to you if you don’t know what size you wear.

The width of this ring is customizable, and ranges from 5.5 to 10mm.

The cost of this piece of work is $589.00. You can find engraving options, as well as other reviews and titanium info here.

I received an email from my wife, who forwarded it from a friend of ours selling girl scout cookies.

In this email, I learned that after this year, they will no longer be offering the Lemon Pastry Cremes for sale. I happen to like this kind!

Something else I thought was worth mentioning is the price of these. Two people I work with sell these for their daughters. One of them sell them for $2.50 per box. The other sell them for $3.00 per box. I was told the reason for this was there were different manufacturers of the cookies.

Can we get a little consistency here?

I wanted to welcome longtime reader RASS to the center stage. He has written some thought provoking articles and I am happy to see him contribute.