Empty Promises
Nightly Business Report
Thursday, December 27, 2007
SUZANNE PRATT: Tonight’s commentator says he’s looking for something from the presidential candidates and so far, he’s coming up empty. He’s Myron Kandel, president of the New Hampshire Initiative for Corporate Responsibility and Investor Protection.
MYRON KANDEL, PRES., NEW HAMPSHIRE INITIATIVE FOR CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY: With the Iowa caucus only a week away and the New Hampshire primary five days after that and debates among the candidates almost back to back, some Americans may feel the presidential campaign has already become a blur. Polls, strategies, personalities, sound bites and even dress codes seem to have taken center stage. Among the issues that have been virtually ignored are corporate responsibility and investor protection, which just happen to make up the name of the initiative I head in New Hampshire.
It’s my contention that anyone aspiring to be president should be able and willing to discuss how to help keep American business honest and protect the nation’s investors. These matters are vital to the health of our economy. But they were overlooked in the last two campaigns, even though some of the worst scandals in American business and financial history had just occurred.
Now we are in the midst of an even bigger crisis, the sub-prime mortgage fiasco and its wide-ranging impact and questions about the causes are just beginning to emerge. So far, only four of the major candidates have been willing to discuss those issues in depth on New Hampshire public television. Sure, other matters are extremely important. But trust in the U.S. economy is vital to all Americans, indeed, to all the world. The candidates need to tell us how they will safeguard that trust. I’m Myron Kandel.