By Sylvia Gurinsky
Bernard Madoff's guilty plea does not and cannot end the story.
The federal investigation of his family and his co-workers must continue. Can one man be responsible for a staggering $65 billion swindle? It's hard to believe, and the answer is: Maybe not.
An investigation of the failings of the Securities and Exchange Commission in pursuing the case against Madoff until so much had been lost must also be done. Apparently, Madoff's scheming happened during a 25-year period, which means there's a lot of blame to go around.
The issue of restitution may be more complicated, given the list of people and organizations that lost money. Class-action suits are already being filed, and that may be the best bet.
Any efforts at laws to protect investors who have been swindled may be met by cries of "It's their choice to invest their money." However, the list of those affected is so vast - including charitable foundations - that some compensation is in order. Somehow, jail doesn't seem enough of a punishment for Bernard Madoff.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
March 11: Games Elected Officials Play
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Here's why daily newspapers are needed: These two stories came to this commentator courtesy of The Miami Herald.
First, the National Rifle Association has horned in on legitimate efforts to get official congressional representation in the District of Columbia:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/943490.html
Anyone who lives in D.C. should be angry at how this has become a "Christmas Tree" bill for the NRA. How about a new version of the Boston Tea Party - D.C. residents can throw the NRA supporters in Congress into the Potomac River?
On the State of Florida level, here's a link to Myriam Marquez' column about the legislature's mischief:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/myriam-marquez/story/943457.html
There's not much to add, except that the Department of Community Affairs must be preserved; if such a bill gets out of the legislature, Gov. Charlie Crist must veto it, as well as any further efforts to wreck Florida's environment.
Whether in Congress or Tallahassee, enough games from elected officials.
Here's why daily newspapers are needed: These two stories came to this commentator courtesy of The Miami Herald.
First, the National Rifle Association has horned in on legitimate efforts to get official congressional representation in the District of Columbia:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/943490.html
Anyone who lives in D.C. should be angry at how this has become a "Christmas Tree" bill for the NRA. How about a new version of the Boston Tea Party - D.C. residents can throw the NRA supporters in Congress into the Potomac River?
On the State of Florida level, here's a link to Myriam Marquez' column about the legislature's mischief:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/myriam-marquez/story/943457.html
There's not much to add, except that the Department of Community Affairs must be preserved; if such a bill gets out of the legislature, Gov. Charlie Crist must veto it, as well as any further efforts to wreck Florida's environment.
Whether in Congress or Tallahassee, enough games from elected officials.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
March 10: Wanted: More Of the Cooler Heads, Less Of the Hot Air
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Air bags - the kind on television and radio, not the kind in cars - are getting a lot of attention these days.
Air bags like Rush Limbaugh and Randi Rhodes. Air bags like the increasingly verbally militant cast of CNBC, which is supposed to be in the business of reporting financial news.
It's happening at the same time community media - print and broadcast - are struggling through their worst time since the Great Depression. While more people are reading daily newspapers - albeit online and for free - than ever before, those papers are more in danger of going out of business.
However, go back to the first part of that last sentence: More people are reading daily newspapers than ever before. Also, more people are heading to outlets such as National Public Radio and PBS broadcasts for news and information.
That means more people want honest, detailed, fair and accurate information.
So let's put the kibosh on all those people who are saying newspapers or journalism are dead. In this country, where the press is the only profession protected by the Constitution, we don't have that option. We have the obligation to save good journalism. For this country's future, we need cooler heads, not hot air.
Air bags - the kind on television and radio, not the kind in cars - are getting a lot of attention these days.
Air bags like Rush Limbaugh and Randi Rhodes. Air bags like the increasingly verbally militant cast of CNBC, which is supposed to be in the business of reporting financial news.
It's happening at the same time community media - print and broadcast - are struggling through their worst time since the Great Depression. While more people are reading daily newspapers - albeit online and for free - than ever before, those papers are more in danger of going out of business.
However, go back to the first part of that last sentence: More people are reading daily newspapers than ever before. Also, more people are heading to outlets such as National Public Radio and PBS broadcasts for news and information.
That means more people want honest, detailed, fair and accurate information.
So let's put the kibosh on all those people who are saying newspapers or journalism are dead. In this country, where the press is the only profession protected by the Constitution, we don't have that option. We have the obligation to save good journalism. For this country's future, we need cooler heads, not hot air.
Monday, March 9, 2009
March 9: Too Big Not To Fail?
By Sylvia Gurinsky
The expression "Too Big To Fail" has been bandied about as the primary reason behind government bailouts of various major companies.
But what if their size is a reason for their current troubles?
One only needs to look at the large companies that grew and grew, and are now out of business (Circuit City, as of yesterday), filing for bankruptcy (you name it) or laying off employees by the thousands (General Motors, for which bankruptcy may be the next step). Then, there are the major media companies......
During the 1990s and even the early part of this decade, many of them grew big. But they didn't grow smart, with sizable companies gobbling up smaller ones at will and others ( Starbucks) opening seemingly on every block. Except for a brief time in 2001-02 in the wake of the crisis at Enron, there has been no oversight.
So far, there has not been enough of a push for oversight from Congress, which is still lambasting CEOs for their excesses, but hasn't said or done enough about tightening regulations on everything from housing to banking to how big Big Business gets.
The bailout idea is starting to get old; it no longer sustains Wall Street, and Main Street is sick of hearing about it.
One of the ways to clean up the mess is exactly that - clean up. Reforming how businesses acquire and manage each other would be a good start. We're finding out that these collapsing companies were too big NOT to fail.
The expression "Too Big To Fail" has been bandied about as the primary reason behind government bailouts of various major companies.
But what if their size is a reason for their current troubles?
One only needs to look at the large companies that grew and grew, and are now out of business (Circuit City, as of yesterday), filing for bankruptcy (you name it) or laying off employees by the thousands (General Motors, for which bankruptcy may be the next step). Then, there are the major media companies......
During the 1990s and even the early part of this decade, many of them grew big. But they didn't grow smart, with sizable companies gobbling up smaller ones at will and others ( Starbucks) opening seemingly on every block. Except for a brief time in 2001-02 in the wake of the crisis at Enron, there has been no oversight.
So far, there has not been enough of a push for oversight from Congress, which is still lambasting CEOs for their excesses, but hasn't said or done enough about tightening regulations on everything from housing to banking to how big Big Business gets.
The bailout idea is starting to get old; it no longer sustains Wall Street, and Main Street is sick of hearing about it.
One of the ways to clean up the mess is exactly that - clean up. Reforming how businesses acquire and manage each other would be a good start. We're finding out that these collapsing companies were too big NOT to fail.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
March 4: Accountability Goes Both Ways, Governor Crist
By Sylvia Gurinsky
In yesterday's State of the State address, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said:
In yesterday's State of the State address, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said:
I urge you to pass legislation requiring school districts to spend 70 percent of their budgets in the classroom for our students and teachers, and to instill transparency by requiring school districts to provide dollar-by-dollar details online. Floridians deserve to know how their hard-earned dollars are being spent, and parents have a right to demand accountability. And I ask you to consider, as I have proposed, increasing per-student funding - Florida's children deserve it.
Amen, but such accountability goes both ways. It's needed from the state, too.
Between the proposed budget released by Crist and what the Florida Legislature does, Floridians still get the feeling that they don't know exactly where their dollars go - especially with all those tax cuts Crist and lawmakers keep harping about.
Local school districts, colleges and universities have spent the last year cutting and cutting and cutting critical programs. There is not much more for them to cut. It has gotten to the point where parents have gone on hunger strikes and students and teachers have staged protests.
They've given their share of blame to local administrators, but they're starting to turn their eyes - rightly - toward Tallahassee. That's exactly where the focus belongs.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
March 3: Who Can Blame Alvarez?
By Sylvia Gurinsky
Can anyone blame Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez?
Frustrated with the City of Miami's latest shenanigans in the Florida Marlins' ballpark deal, Alvarez has instructed that no further county action will take place until the city sorts itself out.
Miami, unfortunately, has a history of this sort of thing. Its haggling over the Orange Bowl prompted Miami Dolphins' owner Joe Robbie to get out and go bankrupt building his own stadium during the 1980s. One glance at articles about the Marlins' stadium fight from the days when John Henry owned the team shows similar hijinks from city commissioners that are taking place now. The Baltimore Orioles and University of Miami football Hurricanes have also been affected by this sort of thing. Is it something in the water at Dinner Key?
Aside from Commissioner Marc Sarnoff's last-minute chess move in the commission meeting that was supposed to decide the Marlins' fate from the city's perspective, there is the incredible disappearing commissioner, Michelle Spence-Jones, who could have taken five minutes from her maternity leave to call in her vote at that commission meeting but didn't, and is now demanding $500 million for Overtown for a "yes" vote, according to The Miami Herald. What courage!
If city commissioners really feel that badly about a deal, here's a suggestion: Go back to the beginning, put it on the ballot and let voters decide. As for the Marlins, they should table negotiations until the economy improves and then see if there are any other U.S. cities interested in giving the welcome that, after 15 years of stadium futility, the team deserves.
Whether one is a baseball fan or not, South Florida has had enough of this soap opera.
Can anyone blame Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez?
Frustrated with the City of Miami's latest shenanigans in the Florida Marlins' ballpark deal, Alvarez has instructed that no further county action will take place until the city sorts itself out.
Miami, unfortunately, has a history of this sort of thing. Its haggling over the Orange Bowl prompted Miami Dolphins' owner Joe Robbie to get out and go bankrupt building his own stadium during the 1980s. One glance at articles about the Marlins' stadium fight from the days when John Henry owned the team shows similar hijinks from city commissioners that are taking place now. The Baltimore Orioles and University of Miami football Hurricanes have also been affected by this sort of thing. Is it something in the water at Dinner Key?
Aside from Commissioner Marc Sarnoff's last-minute chess move in the commission meeting that was supposed to decide the Marlins' fate from the city's perspective, there is the incredible disappearing commissioner, Michelle Spence-Jones, who could have taken five minutes from her maternity leave to call in her vote at that commission meeting but didn't, and is now demanding $500 million for Overtown for a "yes" vote, according to The Miami Herald. What courage!
If city commissioners really feel that badly about a deal, here's a suggestion: Go back to the beginning, put it on the ballot and let voters decide. As for the Marlins, they should table negotiations until the economy improves and then see if there are any other U.S. cities interested in giving the welcome that, after 15 years of stadium futility, the team deserves.
Whether one is a baseball fan or not, South Florida has had enough of this soap opera.
Monday, March 2, 2009
March 2: Hasner's Actions Smack Of Bigotry
By Sylvia Gurinsky
What would the reaction be if a member of the Florida Legislature tried to say members of the Jewish community could not gather in Tallahassee for a celebration of their history and culture?
Angry, and justifiably so.
Yet, a Jewish member of the Florida Legislature - House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach - seeks to deny that right to members of the state's Muslim community.
According to the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald, Hasner has sent an e-mail to Jewish lobbyists, calling on them to oppose Florida Muslim Capitol Day:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article979282.ece
Hasner is having a knee-jerk reaction to the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza - a conflict the Muslims planning to gather in Tallahassee have no responsibility for and have taken no part in.
That doesn't seem to matter to Hasner, however. For a man who is one of the legislative leaders, he seems to lack knowledge of Florida's Muslim population - who they are, what they do and how they contribute to the state.
Considering the history of persecution and hatred Jews have faced, it is more important that Jews practice derech eretz and not turn that persecution and hatred on others. That is a lesson Hasner apparently hasn't learned.
Commendably, other lawmakers seem to not be picking up the banner of bigotry that Hasner is waving.
Tonight at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie, Rabbi Bob Alper and comedian Azhar Usman are presenting their "Laugh In Peace" program. Before the legislative session starts in Tallahassee tomorrow, Hasner might want to take a flight down and catch the show. It's clear he needs it.
What would the reaction be if a member of the Florida Legislature tried to say members of the Jewish community could not gather in Tallahassee for a celebration of their history and culture?
Angry, and justifiably so.
Yet, a Jewish member of the Florida Legislature - House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach - seeks to deny that right to members of the state's Muslim community.
According to the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald, Hasner has sent an e-mail to Jewish lobbyists, calling on them to oppose Florida Muslim Capitol Day:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article979282.ece
Hasner is having a knee-jerk reaction to the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza - a conflict the Muslims planning to gather in Tallahassee have no responsibility for and have taken no part in.
That doesn't seem to matter to Hasner, however. For a man who is one of the legislative leaders, he seems to lack knowledge of Florida's Muslim population - who they are, what they do and how they contribute to the state.
Considering the history of persecution and hatred Jews have faced, it is more important that Jews practice derech eretz and not turn that persecution and hatred on others. That is a lesson Hasner apparently hasn't learned.
Commendably, other lawmakers seem to not be picking up the banner of bigotry that Hasner is waving.
Tonight at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie, Rabbi Bob Alper and comedian Azhar Usman are presenting their "Laugh In Peace" program. Before the legislative session starts in Tallahassee tomorrow, Hasner might want to take a flight down and catch the show. It's clear he needs it.
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