WHITE COLLAR THUGS

It has been a busy day for criminals as we see the newest big time criminal, Martha Stewart, returning to one of her homes to complete the rest of her time in a home arrest situation. She will have many restrictions, but all in all a pretty cushy way to spend her “time”.
I did not really like Martha Stewart before all of this, nor can I say that I really do now, but we can at least say that she is good enough to actually do some time, even if it was a special prison and not the hardcore ones that most folks would go to.
write this because it seems that the white men who are involved in offenses such as the accounting fraud at Enron and WorldCom are punks who do not take any responsibility for what they have done and are even now lying under oath as they sit through their trials. We should not go light with any of these bastards who ruined the lives of employees and investors throughout the country and the world. They should be sent to real prisons for they are not only responsible for theft from people, but also for the deaths of those who may have died from heart attacks, suicides, etc., because of the loss of their entire retirement funds because of these CEO thieves. All of their assets should be seized , and I do mean everything, homes, any accounts that may have been transferred to children or wives or any other relatives in the time before they were charged and sentenced for their crimes. For good measure a few of them should receive life sentences so as to give pause to those who come after them and may be tempted to commit the same type of crimes. After all one of the purposes of punishment is to try and focus others on the reality that they will face if they are caught committing a crime.
I focus on the harsher punishment in the face of studies which show that a majority of the fines and restitution that has been levied on these white collar criminals has not been paid and that there seems to be little incentive for the Justice Department to try and collect the money. A GAO (Government Accounting Office) study showed that some $6 billion were uncollected in 1996 and this had increased to $25 billion were uncollected by September 2002, so you can imagine what that number has increased to by now. This is unacceptable and if these white collar criminals can get away without paying what they owe this should be reflected in whether or not they serve even more time in an actual prison, just like any punk criminal would face if they chose to ignore the fines and restitution in the small crimes that the rest of us might commit.
So Martha has taken her small experience and turned it into a plus which with the increase in her stock has made her a billionaire once again will put her in a better light for most people. She may have even learned something about the plight of those who are in prison and perhaps she will turn some of her attentions toward making the prison system a system of change instead of one of merely punishment.
I hope that the system will also get tougher on those people such as the CEO’s who cheat not just their investors, but all of us, for they affect all of us in a way that a small time thief who steals a $100’s does not, for they steal billions and that does have a huge ripple effect throughout the economy. Put them in the worst prisons we have and let them be seen on television in these horrific places to perhaps dissuade other future white collar crooks!
Daniel Carvel Kepler