It might be hyperbole to say he ruined the industry, but I know a lot of people who suffered for what this guy did...
Good to see him go.
[ July 14, 2005, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: Jim-Me ]
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
After all the hubub on this board about Greedy people ruining other people's economic lives, we have an instance of the Genuine Article getting sent to prison and no one has a comment?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
As I am not on a personal-name basis with anyone named Bernie, I have no idea what you are talking about.
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
who?
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
Bernie Ebbers, former CEO of Worldcom...
I thought it was rather big news, forgive me for not explaining.
Brief Summary: he bankrupted one of the largest Telecom corporations in the world by buying on margin to try to gain more power and using the company's assests to cover his personal losses.
[ July 13, 2005, 02:00 PM: Message edited by: Jim-Me ]
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
When you say Bernie, I think of my rabbit...
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
Bernie Bunny... has kind of a ring to it...
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
It is about time one of those idiots get jail time.
Is that more like it? I even meant it, too...
[ July 13, 2005, 07:26 PM: Message edited by: Kwea ]
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
Death to the opposition!
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
YEAH! there we go!
I want Thor to weigh in, though... he should really be ecstatic...
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Try changing the subject line; I've been seeing this thread and assuming that it was a birthday thread for some new hatracker named Bernie.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
good suggestion... done Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I heard about this on the news - have to say, hadn't followed the story much before then.
His lawyer seemed pretty shocked at the sentence. Given his age (63, I think) it's pretty much the rest of his life.
I'm still unsure on what I think about long jail terms for corporate crimes. Not that I think they should go unpunished - but. Something I have to work through in my mind.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
woohoo! I'm happy about this, and if I'd been online when it just said Bernie I'd have known who you meant. Too bad he'll probably just go to a minimum security "rich folks" jail, but still better than nothing.
Anyone care to guess where I worked from 2001-2004?
--Enigmatic
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
The same place I worked from '97-'99?
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Whereas I simply worked at a company from 1999-2002 which was forced into bankruptcy (and subsequently out of business) by the practices of the company where you two worked.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
We were discussing how much *personal* responsibility he had for the collapse of the Telecom industry yesterday... we decided "more than any other single person"
Which one, Pop? I didn't know you were in the same biz I was...
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
The thing that really got me about this story as I was following it was an alleged quote between Bernie and the chief accountant. Apparently the accountant explained how they could report operational costs as capital investment to meet the projections, but that it wasn't ethical and probably illegal. Bernie said "We just have to hit those numbers."
That sentence sums up the prevailing attitude I saw at MCI. Just hit your numbers. It doesn't matter if you're cheating, screwing over the customer, telling lies, ripping off the rest of your team, as long as you hit the numbers that have been set for your goal.
The bankruptcy didn't hit me very bad; I didn't have any stock and didn't lose my job. But I had friends who'd been doing the employee stock purchase plan for years, pumping a big chunk of their paychecks into stock that was suddenly worthless. Thanks, Bernie, see you in 2030.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Star Telecom. An order of magnitude below the "big three," but at the time it was I believe the 6th largest in the U.S.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
yeah... wow... when you begin to wonder how many went down because of him, and then, on top of that, how all those crashes affected Vendors like Nortel and Ericsson...
25 yrs seems kinda light all of a sudden...
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I read that he cried when he heard the sentence. I tried, but I couldn't muster any sympathy for him.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
If we're going to have the death penality, I feel like it should applicable in cases like this. Oftentimes, these people are responsible for much much greater personal suffering and damage to society than the ones we do execute and they are, in my uniformed opinion, much more likely than the average person on death row to factor "This could get me killed." into their thinking, so that it would actually act as a deterrent.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: in my uniformed opinion
honest question: was this a typo?
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
No, I make sure all my opinions are properly dressed. That one was wearing full Civil War regalia.
Either that, or I may have missed an 'n' in there somewhere.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
I literally have tears rolling down my face right now.
Even when the question was posed, I thought maybe he wondered if it was intentional that the opinion was uninformed/informed. I didn't even get it till the Civil war comment.
Oh man, I'm a bit punchy, I think.
But I agree with you Squick. I think they are probably the only group that might take that into account. And you have to wonder just how many people he did kill. I mean, between suicides and heart attacks, I bet the number was pretty high.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
I thought he might be subtly saying he was a policeman Posted by The Silverblue Sun (Member # 1630) on :
I have followed most of the high profile cases, after seeing Ebbers get a mis-trial the first time cuz of the nutty old lady, i'd lost a bit of hope.
I am "happy" with this verdict.
This is the guy with the $10,000 dollar shower rod. heh heh heh
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
And Thor, just think, he was prosecuted by the Bush administration for things he did mostly during the Clinton administration.
Dagonee P.S., I don't blame Clinton for this at all, nor do I think Clinton's DoJ wouldn't have successfully prosecuted - it's merely a mostly whimsical response to some older posts by you complaining about Bush being too soft on corporate crime.
Posted by The Silverblue Sun (Member # 1630) on :
Let's see what happens to old KennyBoy Lay.
He (ENRON) was the #1 contributor to Bush's elections and re-elections (gov and pres), lets see how hard the hammer falls on him.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)