Professor Elam

Sunday Feb 7 2010

Every Stoic was a Stoic but where in Christiandom is the Christian?

R Waldo Emerson

There is a legend that, one to three days before the final Mexican assault, Travis gathered all of the Alamo's defenders in the main plaza of the fort. Announcing that reinforcements would not be coming, Travis unsheathed his sword and drew a line in the dirt. He then told those men who were willing to stay and die with him to cross the line; those who wanted to leave could do so without shame. Most of the Alamo's defenders subsequently crossed the line, leaving only two men behind. One soldier, Bowie, was confined to a cot with typhoid, but asked to be carried across the line. The other was a French veteran of the Napoleonic Wars named Moses Rose. Rose, who later declared, "By God, I wasn't ready to die," scaled a wall that night and escaped, thus preserving the story of Travis's line in the sand. This account was told by Rose to numerous people later in his life.

Wikipedia on William B. Travis

I am leading a class in ethics in Accounting this semester though I cannot see that Accounting Ethics differ from any other class of ethics applied to human beings. My thoughts today are on the proverbial 'line in the sand.'  The class is doing, I must say, a fine job of reviewing movies with ethical themes. At some point the hero or heroine is called up to make his or her ethical decision, that line in the sand. 

Most accounting frauds or failures to appear ethical stem from such a failed decision. For example. I read today that Goldman is juggling their bonuses amid criticism of their behavior. CEO Blankenfein is being paid $9 M down from a recent year $68 M. Forbes puts his actual base salary at $600,000 per year, presumably this pays his utility bills eh?

As Mary Matalin might say, what a missed opportunity!  Goldman is being criticized for 

claiming it was a bank so it could obtain TARP money and access the FED borrowing window

taking the TARP money

Investing it in the stock market, ie gambling

realizing massive gains on its front running nano second trading program

Rewarding themselves beyond the imagination of the average person, and of course keeping it all to them selves

All this is happening amid double digit unemployment in multiple states, earthquakes in the poorest country in the Americas, well you name it. Contrast this with the public apology by the President of Toyota, no apology from 85 Broad Street at Goldman Headquarters though!

How much is enough Lloyd?  No doubt Lloyd would point to Richard Fuld at Lehman who pocketed a cool $300 M his last year, and then the firm went bust. Fuld was of course, lawyered up, as the saying goes these days, at his Congressional hearing. Goldman stock is down $40 from its October high. I suspect that high will stand for quite some time. As the economy crumbles this fall, expect public outrage to move opposite the stock price of GS. It's pretty clear where GS is regarding their line in the sand. 

Another facet of the Line in the Sand is the numerous attempts to straddle the line. 

The Administration wants to try the mastermind of 9/11 in New York and at the same time the Press Secretary assures us he will receive the death penalty, huh?  New Yorkers rally against the move. 

Students who fail to pass the various high graduation exams still demand to 'walk' the stage at graduation. 

Provision is made for a pro golfer to ride in an electric cart due to a leg handicap. 

Note, no one is admitted as an NFL quarterback on the provision that he learn to throw a football threw a tire at thirty five yards, why is that?

Read yesterday's reference to Handcuffed by Consent, the PCAOB  protests of various shortcomings of the Big Four, but nothing is done about it. Gee what happened to those Stoics?