Wheel, Deal, and Steal: Deceptive Accounting, Deceitful CEOs, and Ineffective Reforms

Chapter 13. Total Regulatory Reform

	“We will do all in our power to protect and secure the savings of ordinary Americans.”[216]
	--Attorney General John Ashcroft

	“America’s scandals stem from ...insufficient checks and balances on corporate managers. Managers perform most effectively and honestly when they face the external discipline of fierce competition, shareholder power, and strong regulatory supervision.”[217]
	--Richard Katz, writing in the Financial Times

The aftermath of a financial disaster, like the aftermath of a lost war, provides an unusual opportunity for people to think about the future and what it should be like. American equity markets are enduring a crisis. It is not certain that investors will simply resume their former behavior, ...