this country is going down the ****ing drain

[Burzhui]

Worldcom:

Who is going to end up paying for all this?

In the first instance, it's the employees. In the same statement that revealed the fiddle, 17,000 WorldCom workers discovered they were getting the push, starting as soon as Friday.

Investors are obviously next in line. Anyone who bought WorldCom shares at the top of the market in 1999, when they were worth more than $60, must be seething. Now they're worth no more than about 20 cents.

Not just WorldCom shareholders, though. The fraud blasts a huge hole through confidence in the rest of the telecoms and technology sector, and is hitting share prices in all major markets.

So anyone with a pension is likely to end up paying the price as well.
_________________________________

dow dropped like a rock

that's a lot of ****ing lives ruined if you ask me

[jase71]

Billions of dollars misappropriated. 17,000 jobs terminated. At least 17,000 lives turned upside down.

And those responsible? Will probably get off, or at worst get a few years in a Federal Golf Club.

And it'll happen again, and again, and again. Because people apparently aren't responsible for what they do at work. Creatively reroute a few billion dollars on your personal time, spend your life in jail. Do it on your job as a corporate exec, and get a slap on the wrist.

[Burzhui]

we should reinstate burning at the stake. or have death penalties for this type of ****.... i mean can you immagine you dump your life savings at $60 per share and now it's @0.20 per share? that's a lot of ****ing suicides

[whitak24]

it's crazy stuff......

i think it is particularly going to damage the stock price of any company that Andersen audited last year, as they oversaw both the Enron fiasco and now this :disa:

it's unfortunate, and i really wonder when it's going to stop

[LPMiller]

none of this means the country is going in the tank.

What it will do, however, is likely boost the telecom industry in the long term, as the other companies will will have an influx of new customers. Circle of life.

[jase71]

Originally posted by LPMiller

What it will do, however, is likely boost the telecom industry in the long term, as the other companies will will have an influx of new customers. Circle of life.

In the short run, it could be interesting though.

I just heard an analyst on NPR, I think, cautioning that Worldcom might only be the first of several large telecoms to be in trouble.

He compared it to the shakeout in the auto industry in the first half of the 20th century, where we went from 50 automakers to just 5 or so major ones.

He suggested that we might see quite a few smaller and mid-sized telecoms go under or be absorbed, because many are on very shaky ground. The few that remain will get bigger and stronger by not only picking up the customers of the defunct telecoms, but by buying their assets and infrastructure at firesale prices, allowing them to grow far more cheaply than they would otherwise.

A good deal if you're one of the survivors, or own stock in them. But not a rosy future if you're a telecom employee. A career change is likely in store for many. And their pension/retirement might be at stake as well.

[Y2J]

If it doesn't mean going down the drain, it at least means that we sliding down into an inflatable tub of green slime.

this is not good for the country. Our economic downturn can be felt in many industries. and since so many industyries are now interconnected and work together, this doldrum economy will last years and will hit each phase of the economy. I cant see us breaking out of it at any point in the near future, especially with bush's anti-privacy homeland security bullsht. and that I feel is hurting the country far more than the economy. Because we claim we are for freedom and liberty, but the yokels in our country could care less if they give up freedom and the dental plan for some free beer.

[Paymaster]

Let's face it.

This country has been going down the ****ing draing ever since David Lee Roth left Van Halen.

[CornMonkey]

stuff like this makes me want to go live in a cave in the woods somewhere...

[Speedfreak]

If this place goes all to hell, I will follow you back to Russia, Burzhui. :P

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by Speedfreak
If this place goes all to hell, I will follow you back to Russia, Burzhui. :P

k man i'll show you around, we will have some fun there ;)