Do as I say, not as I do

In “Enron’s Last Victim: American Markets” (January 3), William Niskanen clearly exposes the harm imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on our economy. Allow me to add insult to injury.

Last month the Treasury Department issued “The Fiscal Year 2006 Financial Report of the United States Government”, a comprehensive view of the Federal Government’s finances. For the tenth straight year, the GAO has refused to sign-off on the report because “sufficient information was not available for the auditors to determine whether the information was reliable.”

Meanwhile, CEOs of publicly-traded corporations are required to personally sign off on their financial reports at the risk of being held criminally liable if the reports are not accurate.

Too bad we don’t apply the same standards to politicians and bureaucrats. Perhaps the threat of jail would make them think twice before passing costly regulations.

[Letter to the Editor - The New York Times. Submitted 01/05/2007.]