Maybe its because it was the very first thing I read in the morning,
or maybe because I have a psychological predilection and saw what I
expected to see, but I swiftly opened this news story because I was
surprised that some "corrupt CEO's" had found willing b-schools and wanted
to see who money could buy.  Sigh.  Perhaps optimism is fueled by coffee,
and I was running low on fuel.

      In a related vein, does anyone recall how much Fastow stole?  Not how
much in losses he generated, but how much he stole.  Has Fastow pulled a
Milken (e.g., steal $750M, then apologize, pay a $250M fine, and do 18
months in a federal minimum security prison)?  I have yet to find a student
that viewed Milken as punished, instead the routine reaction is dreamy
eyes.  Well, Milken is an extraordinary "businessperson" whose achievements
are not easily equalled.  Fastow falls short of Milken's mark.  Fastow gets
10 years instead of 18 months and only salvages around $20M of ill gotten
gains.  Fastow merely will earn around $5,500 per day in prison.  Milken
earned around $900,000 per day in prison.  In its way, the market
recognizes excellence, thus Milken is over 150 times "better" than Fastow.

      But, is Fastow a Reasonable Man?  Is Fastow's reward/risk ratio
greater than, equal to, or less than the reward/risk ratio accepted daily
by thousands of illegal immigrants to the USA?  What does that portend for
predictable business ethics in practice?

      I think I have a cup of coffee.

Michael

Professor Michael J. O'Hara, J.D., Ph.D.
Finance, Banking, & Law Department
College of Business Administration
Roskens Hall 502
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha  NE  68182
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(402) 554 - 2823 voice  fax (402) 554 - 2680
http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm