The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 18, 2002 Page: 3 of 20
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'
THE RICE THRESHER OPINION
/ know who's moving the cheese
Enron collapse not a government concern
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18,2002
I haven't been to confession since
I was 8, when I admitted to Father
Frank that I had lied to my parents
about breaking a floodlight and had
forcibly taken the TV re-
mote from my sister on
several occasions. But
the guilty satisfaction I
felt when Enron went
bankrupt, and thousands
of Houston employees
(including hundreds of
Rice grads) lost their
jobs, makes me want to
return to the confes-
sional.
It's not that I have any-
thing against Enron in
particular or energy companies in
general — the energy trading and
risk management pioneered by
Enron make energy markets more
efficient, ultimately helping all of us
by reducing the cost of electricity .
Cheaper goods raise everyone's
standard of living (especially the
poor, who spend a larger proportion
of their income on consumables)
without inflationary pressures or
large-scale market interference.
Cheaper, better goods from greater
efficiency are the holy grail of eco-
nomic development.
So my guilty satisfaction is not
about the kind of company Enron
was. It's a lot more petty: I'm tired of
waiting in long lines when I go to
bars. Anyone who's been to any of
the downtown hot-spots knows what
I mean — the ignominy of waiting
for 10 minutes trying to get a drink
while a wall of loud-talking, exces-
sively cologned twentysomething
traders stands in front of the bar
shouting to each other about the
market and bonuses. The smile in
the back of my mind stems from the
hope that with a significant fraction
of the bar hopping herd laid off, the
martinis will get cheaper and I won't
have to fight so hard to get one.
I know this is stupid. Most of the
people who lost their jobs were
middle-aged employees
working toward early re-
tirement, men and women
who avoid the martini bars
and don't venture into the
bathroom for a line or two
between drinks. I know
that Enron's talented em-
ployees deserve gratitude
for improving Houston's
economy and sympathy
for the position the
company's collapse has
put them in. But they don't
need the help of Congress in recoup-
ing their losses or holding Enron's
executives accountable for behavior
that was definitely shady and might
have been criminal.
The main issue is that Enron's
leaders apparently misled share-
holders about the shaky financial
condition of their company, driving
up the stock price with false earn-
ings projections. Early last fall, the
executives knew the company was
on the verge of collapse and sold
their shares to make hundreds of
millions of dollars while ordinary
investors were left holding the bag.
Enron employees had invested their
retirement plans heavily in their own
company (a risky move no matter
what), so the collapse hurt them
even more.
The behavior of the executives
offends me as much as anyone, but
Enron's shareholders don't need the
clumsy hand of government to help
them in their claims. Within min-
utes of Enron's bankruptcy. lawyers
throughout the country started to
drool on their power ties. Respect-
able firms that normally look down
upon ambulance chasing didn't hesi-
tate to take out full page ads in the
Houston Chronicle, and a phalanx of
lawsuits is in the works.
Investors won't recover all their
money, but the lawsuits will serve
as a flexible kind of regulation to
prevent a repetition of Enron's prac-
tices by other companies in the fu-
ture. If executives are held person-
ally responsible for their actions,
others will think twice about re-
peating those actions. Arthur
Andersen, Enron's accountant, is
also being named as a defendant in
the lawsuits for its failure to dis-
close the problems. Other account-
ing firms will take notice as inves-
tors become skeptical of optimistic
earnings reports and critical of fi-
nancial information. Some mid-level
employees who were aware of the
problems may be held accountable
for their failure to blow the whistle
on their own company, making it
more difficult for future companies
to suppress or buy off
whistleblowers.
All of these things will occur be-
fore the government even begins to
draft legislation to more fully regu-
late financial disclosure. Congres-
sional legislation is a clumsy, slow
tool that is always one step behind
reality, chasing the last problem and
not the next one while doing signifi-
cant harm to the very people it tries
to help through unintended conse-
quences.
A climate of exuberant
overinvestment enabled Enron's
spectacular fr :lure, and financial in-
stitutions throughout the economy
are learning a lesson — a lesson that
will protect the public better than
anything lobbed at the problem by
camera-seeking congressmen.
Brad Lega is a Hanszen College se-
nior.
I'm part of the problem
Geraldo is ringmaster of 'reporting circus'
I would like to commend the Fox
News Channel. By hiring Geraldo
Rivera as a foreign war correspon-
dent, it has demonstrated a commit-
ment not only to theatrics
disguised as hard-hitting
professional journalism,
but also to funny hats.
In theory, Rivera's
move from daytime talk
show host to war corre-
spondentandaccessorizing
wizard was prompted by
his commitment to jour-
nalism. He told the Wash-
ington Post he has seen
himself for the "last five or
six years as a newsman
first and a talk show host second."
However, what Geraldo does
should not be considered journal-
ism. His reports focus less on the
conflict in Afghanistan and more on
the trials and tribulations of an irate
American man parading around and
scrambling into caves accompanied
by an entourage of cameramen.
One prime example of Geraldo's
nonjournalism is his on-camera ad-
vertisement that he is carrying a
gun. The Generva Convention dic-
tates that journalists are to be non-
combatants. Sure. Rivera could prob-
ably justify carrying a concealed
weapon, but having announced it to
the world at large, the gun can hardly
be considered concealed.
Another reason Geraldo should
not be considered a journalist is his
claim that he is searching for Osama
bin Laden. One of the primary te-
nets of journalism is that journalists
do not intentionally make news.
Rivera has recently been the cen-
ter of a controversy concerning the
ethics of a report in which he claimed
to be near the "hallowed ground"
where a deadly friendly fire incident
occurred, when he was in fact safely
reporting from a location several
hundred miles away.
Carly
Kocurek
ist, this would be an important mat-
ter. However, when considered as
standard television entertainment,
this slight misinformation is unim-
portant. Think of it as
"Geraldo Rivera Reports
from Afghanistan, In-
spired by a True Story."
Remove the imposed
frame of journalism and
Geraldo is doing what he
did on his talk show —
providing sensationalized
entertainment loosely
based on reality. As a jour-
nalist, Rivera may be slimy,
but as a television enter-
tainer, he's a pro at win-
ning ratings.
There are a number of reasons
Geraldo's broadcasts are fun to
watch. First and most apparent are
his clothes. Geraldo Rivera has
brought the news media something
it's been sorely lacking: whimsical
accessorizing. The gun is just the be-
ginning: vests, hats, boots, Geraldo
has it all. One day, he treats us to a
modem spin on the tired "Lawrence
of Arabia" look, the next, we get a
glimpse of a brash and dapper update
to classic "Crocodile Hunter" attire.
Another reason Geraldo's broad-
casts hold such fascination is that he
is the overblown embodiment of the
average, post-Sept. 11, bin Laden-hat-
ing, pissed off American. There are
probably thousands of people right
now wishing they too could raid their
gun cabinet anii personally chase
down bin Laden. Rivera has prom-
ised that ifhe finds Osama bin Laden,
he will "kick his head in, then bring it
home and bronze it." Not only would
this save the U.S. military from wast-
ing any more time searching for Bin
Laden, it would provide us with a
priceless piece of art, a national trea-
sure that would last for centuries.
Clearly Geraldo is entertaining,
well-dressed and committed, but
considered a journalist or not is a
separate matter entirely. His broad-
casts have demonstrated that he is
not practicing journalism, but this does
not mean that what Geraldo is doing
does not have a place on television.
The place is just not the daily news.
Forget the journalism. Geraldo's
reports are much like the sensational-
ized entertainment of his talk show.
Comedic attire, questionable journal-
ist practices and controversy just help
complete the three-ring reporting cir-
cus. Love Geraldo or hate him, but
don't take him seriously.
Carly Kocurek is opinion editor and a
Will Rice College sophomore.
Guest column
Reforming the racist
Social Security system
What do you call a governmen-
tal system that discriminates
against black Americans? If the
subject is a program like Social
Security, you call it rac-
ist — and then you
change it.
Presently, Social Se-
curity systematically ex-
tracts money from black
Americans and redis-
tributes it to white
Americans. According
to Harvard professor Jef-
frey Liebman, the aver-
age black American re-
ceives almost $21,000
less in Social Security retirement
benefits than whites of a compa-
rable income and marital status.
Moreover, the average black
male can expect to receive only
10 months of Social Security ben-
efits, a meager return on years of
payroll taxes deducted directly
from his paycheck. The National
Center for Health Statistics re-
ports that a black male born in
1999 can expect to reach 67.8
years of age, while Social Secu-
rity eligibility begins at virtually
the same time — at age 67. Ac-
cordingly, as long as the status
quo prevails in Social Security,
black Americans will continue to
pay taxes into a government sys-
tem incapable of paying a fair re-
turn.
This is why, according to a
study published by the National
Center for Policy Analysis, black
males can expect a mere .73 per-
cent annual return on their Social
Security taxes, while white males
can expect 1.82 percent — a dif-
ference that can add up to tens of
thousands of dollars.
In addition, black Americans,
like all Americans, may never re-
ceive any benefits in exchange
for their taxes. Current estimates
reveal that Social Security will
begin to run a deficit around 2015,
which will eventually reach a stag-
gering $21 trillion. As a result,
Congress will be forced to take
one of three actions: raise taxes,
cut benefits or drastically cut
spending in other areas of the
budget. Given the consequences
of all three solutions, many ques-
tion whether the Americans who
need Social Security benefits the
most — and have paid for them
through payroll taxes — will ever
receive them.
President Bush has proposed
a solution to the Social Security
Evan
Van Ness
debacle: privatization.
Privatization would allow
Americans to divert a portion of
their Social Security taxes into
stocks or bonds of
their choosing. This
proposal, issued by a
bipartisan Social Secu-
rity commission,
would ensure that
black Americans have
the opportunity to re-
ceive the same ben-
efits as the rest of
Americans.
Yet, the national
Democratic party —
aside from a brief flirtation by
President Clinton during a State
of the Union speech — has re-
fused even to consider
privatization. Senate Majority
Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the
nation's highest-ranking Demo-
crat, flatly opposes it. A1 Gore fa-
mously called Social Security
privatization a "risky scheme," de-
spite the fact that his own run-
ning mate had once endorsed the
concept.
All Americans ought
to support President
Bush's proposal and
press Democrats to
explain why they
support such a clearly
racist system.
In opposition, many rank-and-
file black Democrats now support
privatization. A July 2001 poll in-
dicated that 66 percent of black
Americans back the idea behind
Social Security privatization. Rob-
ert Johnson, CEO of Black Enter-
tainment Television and a Demo-
crat, has said, "I want to get people
out of being totally dependent on
government transfers for their
well-being at retirement and get
them to depend on the great
wealth creation machine that is
the U.S. economy."
Johnson's statement reflects
his enthusiasm for privatization,
which allows black Americans to
pass their remaining Social Secu-
See PRIVATIZATION, Page 4
the Rice Thresher
Leslie Liu, Robert Reichle
Editors in Chief
If Geraldo were in fact a journal- whether Geraldo should actually be
NEWS
OPINION
Rachel Rustin, Editor
Catherine Adcock, Editor
Mark Berenson, Asst. Editor
Carly Kocurek. Editor
l.iora Danan, Asst. Editor
Lindsey Gilbert, Asst. Editor
LIFESTYLES
Corey E. Devine, Editor
SPORTS
Chris Larson, Editor
COPY
Jason Gershman, Asst. Editor
Sarah Ainsworth, Editor
Dylan Hedrick, Asst. Editor
Melissa Bailey. Asst. Editor
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
David Chien, Illustrator
Dalton Tomlin, Editor
Natasha Alvandi, Asst. Editor
BUSINESS
Shannon Scott, Business Manager
CALENDAR
Lindsay Roemmich, Assf. Business Manager
Ashley Friggel, Editor
Lindsay Sutton, Distribution Manager
Pant I Patel, Subscriptions Manager
BACKPAGE
Margaret Xu. Office Manager
Joe Garland. Editor
Polly D'Avignon, Office Assistant
Scott Selinger, Editor
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Robert Lee, Ads Manager
Katie Streit, Editor
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Kijana Knight, Asst. Editor
Polly D'Avignon, Classified Ads Manager
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< COPYRIGHT 2002.
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Liu, Leslie & Reichle, Robert. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 18, 2002, newspaper, January 18, 2002; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth442983/m1/3/: accessed June 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.