The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many
of its allies such as the Wall Street Journal are complaining that
the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Justice Department and
New York AG Eliot Spitzer are being too aggressive in finding,
indicting and prosecuting corporate crime.
The Chamber of Commerce proves my point in Commerce that business is not moral, otherwise the Chamber would be seeking more aggressive prosecution. (I'm glad commerce is not moral otherwise we wouldn't have recreational drugs, people earning a living in the sex field, smuggling of high-tech adult toys, booze in grocery stores, stores open all night and shopping on Sundays.)
However, the current type of
prosecution benefits business in general while making life more
difficult and sometimes more expensive for individual corporations.
Investors, a key source of capital, are the people who want open corporate books, reliable financial statements and financial transparency. This wave of prosecution benefits the investment community and commerce in general.
Because individual companies place
their own self interest over the interests of the broader commercial
community we get the unfortunate shortsighted behavior of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
This needs to be fixed.
I suggest that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and similar entities create special executive committees with senior members appointed to long terms. Such a committee would be designed to represent the investment community and the long-term interests of commerce. Call such an executive committee the Long-term Growth Committee.
A longer post with a slightly different perspective is on my blog Commerce the book.