Speaking Out Of Both Sides Of His Mouth

Shortly after our two faced president took office it was revealed that his single largest political contributor had been running a congame on his workers and investors to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. He quickly came up with a 10 point plan to ensure that CEOs could never snow their investors like that again.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that the country really should be run like a business and that bush has been out CEO for the last four years. Has our prez lived up to his CEO requirements?


1.) Each investor should have quarterly access to the information needed to judge a firm’s financial performance, condition, and risks.

"It's hard for me to explain why we need to make [the tax cuts] permanent. It's kind of like some of the things that happen in Washington. On the one hand, they taketh away. On the other hand, they giveth.
-- Denver, Colorado Sep. 27, 2002

2.) Each investor should have prompt access to critical information.

It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it.
-- Reuters, May 5, 2000

3.) CEOs should personally vouch for the veracity, timeliness, and fairness of their companies’ public disclosures, including their financial statements.

"The CIA laid out several scenarios. It said that life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better. And they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like," he said
-- Washington, D.C., September 22, 2004

4.) CEOs or other officers should not be allowed to profit from erroneous financial statements.

"The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway."
-- Annandale, Virginia, Aug. 9, 2004

5.) CEOs or other officers who clearly abuse their power should lose their right to serve in any corporate leadership positions.

"Q: So when you say that you want the U.S. to adhere to international and U.S. laws, that's not very comforting. This is a moral question. Is terr -- torture ever justified?

GWB: Look, I'm gonna say it one more time. I can -- if I can -- maybe -- maybe I can be more clear. The instructions went out to our people to adhere to law. That oughtta comfort you. We -- we're a nation of law. We adhere to laws. We have laws on the books. You might look at those laws. And that might provide comfort for you. And those were the instructions out of -- from me to the government."
--- Savannah, Georgia, Jun. 10, 2004

6.) Corporate leaders should be required to tell the public promptly whenever they buy or sell company stock for personal gain.

"I remember campaigning in Chicago one time, and the guy said, would you ever deficit spend? I said, well, only if we were at war, or the country was in recession, or there was a national emergency. I didn't realize we were going to get the trifecta." --- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Apr. 3, 2002


7.) Investors should have complete confidence in the independence and integrity of companies’ auditors.

"You know, capitalism is only as strong as the integrity of the people involved in the process. And these leaders will tell you that you've got to be open with your employees. Otherwise, they're not going to work for you very hard.
-- Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 2004

8.) An independent regulatory board should ensure that the accounting profession is held to the highest ethical standards.

Sometimes things aren't exactly black and white when it comes to accounting procedures.
-- Justifying his oil firm's accounting record, Washington, D.C., July 8, 2002

9.) The authors of accounting standards must be responsive to the needs of investors.

Look, I don't care about the numbers. I know the facts.
-- St. Petersburg, Florida, Mar. 8, 2002

10.) Firms’ accounting systems should be compared with best practices, not simply against minimum standards.

"In order to make sure the country was stronger, I pulled this page out of the economic textbook, the page that says, if you let people keep more of their own money, they're going to spend it on a good or a service. If they spend it on a good or a service, somebody will produce the good and service. And if somebody produces a good or service, some American is more likely to find work."
-- Trenton, New Jersey, Sep. 23, 2002