August 1, 2002
R. D. Kushner

In a capitalist consumer culture, marketing, advertising, and accounting are the keys to success; the value of a product is determined by the manufacturer's ability to expose it to their target audience and to convince them of its value. The subsequent sale of goods and services results in economic growth; this growth can be measured internally by accountants, and by way of overall net gains in the economy that are measured by stock market indexes. Sometimes, "market forces" cause massive economic upheaval, like in the recent bankruptcy of Enron and WorldCom. As these recent examples indicate, there seems to be every indication that some of these "market forces" might be controllable if businesses were held to a higher level of ethical [to be read accounting and auditing] responsibility; or at least held to the level of responsibility to which ordinary citizens are accountable.

In a strange twist of fate, in Gwinnet County Georgia, a 35,000 pound advertising billboard collapsed, killing three people. It should come as no surprise that the collapse of such a marketing behemoth might crush a human being to death; it's just that such a literal collapse of economic structure is quite jarring. When compared to the recent economic collapse that had Scott Sullivan from WorldCom on the lam and sent American markets spiraling downward to a five year low, one might expect that a tumbling advertising sign would be shrugged off simply as an unfortunate reminder of the persistence of gravity.

Although the story barely made it to the main stream media [it was carried on cnn.com and in several local Atlanta papers [1]] the event carries a parable of a much larger dimension. Somehow the literal collapse of the 60 foot wide sign which had been poised on top of a slender column 60 feet from the ground, seems to breed contempt into the imagination in a way that no corporate bankruptcy ever could. The falling billboard illuminates the insidious nature of corporate over-indulgence in a way that falling stock markets never do.

If the falling stock market literally crushed people to death then perhaps investors and politicians would take illegal corporate activities more seriously. Instead, the impudent regulations recently passed by the United States government end up being wholly reactionary and only reiterate the basic tenet that laws that apply to "lay folk" also apply to "lay folk" when they are at the heads of large corporations:

"For the sake of our free economy, those who break the law - break the rules of fairness, those who are dishonest, however wealthy or successful they may be - must pay a price." [2]

Does America really need a public affirmation of laws that already exist? If so, the statement above is nothing more than a simple acknowledgement that some members of American society really have been living above the law. Which makes the next statement by the President even more absurd:

"Free markets are not a jungle in which only the unscrupulous survive, or a financial free-for-all guided only by greed." [3]

Wait a minute, of course that's what free markets are. There are literally tens of thousands of accountants and lawyers, employed by corporations, who are in a constant feeding frenzy to find the loopholes in current legislation which will allow them to maximize their profits. Nobody ever asked the free market to answer to a higher moral authority; and one should not expect this system to automatically monitor itself. In fact, one should expect that free market corporations will not monitor their ethical conduct at all; corporations are only asked to exceed Wall Street's growth expectations so that their investors make money. It's the job of politicians and lawmakers to write legislation to make sure that the free market doesn't overstep its bounds. Anti-trust legislation is only one example of how the market is tweaked to keep it in line with what is deemed "acceptable" in business practices, and "good" for consumers.

Although the president described the legislation as, ""the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt," this is simply prime time lip service [4]. The quotes above tell Americans everything they need to know about what this legislation will accomplish. The only additional thing the legislation does, is set up an impotent, "regulatory board with investigative and enforcement powers to oversee the accounting industry and punish corrupt auditors" [5]. This regulatory board will, of course, be heavily lobbied by the very corporations which they will allegedly be investigating.

The collapse of the billboard in Georgia will certainly be followed by a series of lawsuits wherein a culpable party will be held responsible for the structural failure which claimed three lives. The accounting scapegoating currently underway throughout corporate America will result in a similar array of lawsuits; which will result in the arrest of at least a few of those managers who were responsible for damaging the entire economy of the United States of America.

Works Cited:

[1] http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/01/billboard.collapse/index.html
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/31/business/31BUSH.html
[3] ibid.
[4] ibid.
[5] ibid.