In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
The Bush Administration: Rewarding bad behavior
Treasury Dept. Picks KPMG as Auditor
Firm's Tax Shelters Under Investigation
The Treasury Department has tapped KPMG LLP as the first private firm to audit the agency's consolidated financial statements, even as the Treasury and Justice departments probe the accounting giant's marketing of potentially abusive tax shelters.
The contract has angered the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, who say it is part of a pattern of federal agencies condoning tax abuses -- from the Transportation Department encouraging abusive leasing arrangements to the Patent and Trademark Office issuing patents for tax shelters and the Interior Department participating in inflated land swaps.
...
With $6.9 trillion in assets, the Treasury will be the largest audit ever for KPMG, although the value of the contract was not disclosed. KPMG will look over the books of Treasury's 12 bureaus, including the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Public Debt and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
...
Republican and Democratic Senate Finance Committee aides agreed the award is extraordinary but for a different reason. By awarding KPMG this contract, the Treasury Department is undermining its own tax probe, they said.
"What signal does it send when the government is hauling one of the big accounting firms into the grand jury room over tax fraud while handing that same company millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts?" Grassley asked.
Umm it sends the signal that honest hard working folk are suckers? It sends the signal that the Bush administration believes the American dream is to stick it to the working man (its their tax money, because heck, thanks to KPMG the rich aren't paying taxes)? It sends the signal the corporate america has decided that it has no reason to exist except to make money; laws, ethics, and decency be damned.
It wasn't always that day, for all his faults at least Ford paid his employees extremely well, because he understood that they would be customers. Now employers squeeze employees like turnips. Hershey at the turn of the century build employees homes to live in, and a park for employees to enjoy after hours. When he died he left his enitre fortune ($40 million - a heck of a lot in those days) to an orphanage. That seems sadly quaint now.
Anyway, back to that fine company: KPMG
This is what KPMG thinks of the Rule of Law:
KPMG LLP in 1998 decided not to register a new tax-sheltering strategy for wealthy individuals after a tax partner in a memo determined the potential penalties were vastly lower than the potential fees.
...
Mr. Ritchie recommended that KPMG avoid registering the strategy with the IRS, and avoid potential scrutiny, even though he assumed the firm would conclude it met the agency's definition of a tax shelter and therefore should be registered. The memo, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, stated that, "The rewards of a successful marketing of the OPIS product [and the competitive disadvantages which may result from registration] far exceed the financial exposure to penalties that may arise."
for more details on the tax-sheltering fraud (which the above quotes come from) and more detail about KPMG's scandals. Visit: It Just Gets Deeper and Deeper for KPMG.
And how does KPMG treat its employees?
KPMG Sued for Mistreating Man with HIV/AIDS
James Keith Lackie is suing one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, claiming his supervisor tried forcing him to wear latex gloves among other indignities after he revealed he was HIV positive.
...
Two weeks later, Human Resources held a tense meeting between Lackie and Rogers where he revealed that the reason he couldn't work such long hours was because he was battling HIV/AIDS. "The H.R. representative said she admittedly didn't know much about the disease, but she was going to do her best to learn. [Rogers] said nothing."
Half an hour later, Rogers approached Lackie's desk telling him he would have to wear latex gloves while he worked. "She said it as if she was angry with me."
A witness says that's when Rogers raised her voice so everyone could hear her explain that she thought the gloves were necessary because no one else in the department had AIDS.
According to the lawsuit, Rogers wouldn't let the issue die. Another surpervisor within the department said Rogers revealed Lackie's HIV status, which is a breach of the Texas Health and Safety Code.
Lackie described how the harassment continued. At one point Rogers had Lackie train other employees how to do his job and then transferred Lackie to the mailroom. According to the lawsuit, Rogers whittled away every responsibility Lackie had and enjoyed until all he was left with was sorting and delivering mail.
HR knew what was going on and did nothing. What swell folks.
- rob 12:13 PM - [PermaLink] -
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