傑弗裏·薩克斯： 全球經濟的公司犯罪潮

薩克斯：全球經濟的公司犯罪潮

本文來源於《財經網》

傑弗裏·薩克斯是哥倫比亞大學經濟學教授，哥倫比亞大學地球研究所主任。他還是聯合國秘書長千年發展目標特別顧問

---有錢能使鬼推磨，錢正在腐蝕全世界的政治和市場；由於財富和權力與法律之間有著密切的聯係，因此控製壓製公司犯罪是一場艱難的戰鬥

紐約——

公司欺詐正在全世界泛濫，而重災區正是發達國家——被認為“治理良好”的國家。貧困國家政府可能接受了更多的賄賂，存在更多的違法行為，但為非作歹最甚的跨國公司可都是來自發達國家的。有錢能使鬼推磨，錢正在腐蝕全世界的政治和市場。

幾乎是每一天，我們都能聽到新的不法行為發生。過去十年來，沒有一家華爾街公司沒有支付過巨額罰款，要麽是因為作假帳，要麽是因為內部交易，要 麽是因為證券詐騙，要麽是因為龐氏騙局，要麽是因為CEO肆無忌憚地挪用公款。紐約最近在審理一大批內部交易案，牽涉不少領袖級金融業人物。隨之而來的是 一係列罰款——美國主要投行必須為層出不窮的證券詐騙付出代價。

然而，很少有人因此承擔責任。因華爾街大銀行不擇手段的行為所造成的史上最大金融危機已過去兩年，卻沒有一位金融業大亨被投入監獄。公司因詐騙 而受罰，為此買單的並非CEO和管理者，而是股東。罰金通常隻是畸高利潤的一小部分，這讓華爾街感到腐敗行為總能獲得很高的回報率。時至今日，銀行遊說集 團仍然不把監管者和政客放在眼裏。

腐敗為美國政治開支不少。現任佛羅裏達州長裏克·斯科特（RickScott）曾是一家名叫Columbia/HCA的大型醫療公司的CEO。該公司被指通過超額計償欺詐美國政府，最終被判14項重罪成立，罰款17億美元。

聯邦調查局的調查使得斯科特被迫下台。但是，在該公司有罪判決做出10年後，斯科特卷土重來，這一次披上了“自由市場”共和黨政治家的畫皮。

當巴拉克·奧巴馬希望有人能站出來幫助拯救美國汽車業的時候，他將目光投向了華爾街“修車工”斯蒂芬·拉特納（StevenRattner），而他心知肚明拉特納正因向政府官員提供回扣而在接受調查。在完成了白宮的工作之後，拉特納用幾百萬美元的罰款擺平了這件案子。

但問題又為何止州長和總統顧問？前副總統迪克·切尼（DickCheney）在進入白宮前是哈裏伯頓（Halliburton）CEO。在他任 職哈裏伯頓期間，該公司被指向尼日利亞官員非法行為以換取進入該國油田的權利，這一權利至少價值數十億美元。尼日利亞政府向哈裏伯頓提起行賄訴訟，但該公 司選擇了用錢息事寧人——付出3.5億美元罰款換取庭外和解。當然，切尼的前途並未受此案任何影響。這個案子隻是在美國新聞界掀起了些許波瀾。

逃脫刑罰的情況十分普遍——事實上，大多數公司犯罪根被沒有引起人們的注意。少數引起人們關注的案子通常也隻是給些不痛不癢的懲罰，向公司（意 味著其股東）拍出一張不大不小的罰單了事。位居這些公司最高位的真正的罪犯根本無需擔驚受怕。就算公司不得不支付巨額罰單，他們也照樣能坐穩CEO的位 子。股東太分散，權力太小，根本不能對管理層形成多大的控製。

腐敗橫行——在美國、歐洲、中國、印度、非洲、巴西以及其他地區——引發了一係列頗具挑戰性的問題——它的源頭是什麽？有什麽辦法控製它的燎原之勢？

公司腐敗失控有兩大原因。首先，如今的大公司多是跨國公司，而政府則否。大公司財大氣粗，以至於政府不太敢拿它們開刀。

其次，在美國等國家，公司是政治活動的主要金主，而政客自己往往是公司的部分所有者，或至少不聲不響地從公司利潤中獲取著好處。美國國會議員中大約有一半是百萬富翁，且很多在他們進入國會前就與公司關係甚密了。

因此，當公司行為越界時，政客們往往會視而不見。就算政府試圖強化法律，公司也有應對之法——它們有律師大軍圍繞身畔。結果是產生了一種逍遙法外的文化，而這種文化的基礎是公司犯罪一再被證明會獲得豐厚回報。

由於財富和權力與法律之間有著密切的聯係，因此控製壓製公司犯罪是一場艱難的戰鬥。幸運的是，現今快速普遍的信息流能夠起到一定的威懾和消毒作 用。腐敗滋生於黑暗，而越來越多的信息可以通過電子郵件和博客（如Facebook、Twitter和其他社交網站）暴露於光天化日。（WIKI LEAK?)

我們還需要新型政客來領導基於免費在線媒體而非付費媒體的新型政治活動。隻要政客能夠擺脫他們與公司讚助之間的關係，他們就能獲得控製公司恣意妄為的能力。

此外，我們需要照亮國際金融的黑暗角落，特別是開曼群島這樣的避稅天堂和神秘的瑞士銀行。逃稅、回扣、非法酬金、賄賂和其他非法交易就是通過這 些賬戶進行的。這一隱秘體係所帶來的錢權和非法性如今已經泛濫到了威脅全球經濟合法性的地步，特別是在如今收入不平等程度和預算赤字空前的時刻。而收入不 平等和預算赤字之所以空前，乃是因為政府在向富人征稅方麵的政治——有時甚至是操作——無能。

因此，下一次當你聽說在非洲或是別的貧困地區出現腐敗醜聞的時候，不妨打聽一下醜聞來自哪裏、是誰在搞腐敗。美國和其他“發達”國家沒有任何權利指責貧苦國家，因為造成問題的往往是最強大的跨國公司。

傑弗裏·薩克斯是哥倫比亞大學經濟學教授，哥倫比亞大學地球研究所主任。他還是聯合國秘書長千年發展目標特別顧問

【作者：傑弗裏•薩克斯 】

 

The Global Economy's Corporate Crime Wave

05-03

Given the close connections of wealth and power with the law, reining in corporate crime will be an enormous struggle.

By Jeffrey D. Sachs

NEW YORK – The world is drowning in corporate fraud, and the problems are probably greatest in rich countries – those with supposedly “good governance.” Poor-country governments probably accept more bribes and commit more offenses, but it is rich countries that host the global companies that carry out the largest offenses. Money talks, and it is corrupting politics and markets all over the world.

Hardly a day passes without a new story of malfeasance. Every Wall Street firm has paid significant fines during the past decade for phony accounting, insider trading, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, or outright embezzlement by CEOs. A massive insider-trading ring is currently on trial in New York, and has implicated some leading financial-industry figures. And it follows a series of fines paid by America’s biggest investment banks to settle charges of various securities violations.

There is, however, scant accountability. Two years after the biggest financial crisis in history, which was fueled by unscrupulous behavior by the biggest banks on Wall Street, not a single financial leader has faced jail. When companies are fined for malfeasance, their shareholders, not their CEOs and managers, pay the price. The fines are always a tiny fraction of the ill-gotten gains, implying to Wall Street that corrupt practices have a solid rate of return. Even today, the banking lobby runs roughshod over regulators and politicians.

Corruption pays in American politics as well. The current governor of Florida, Rick Scott, was CEO of a major health-care company known as Columbia/HCA. The company was charged with defrauding the United States government by overbilling for reimbursement, and eventually pled guilty to 14 felonies, paying a fine of $1.7 billion.

The FBI’s investigation forced Scott out of his job. But, a decade after the company’s guilty pleas, Scott is back, this time as a “free-market” Republican politician.

When Barack Obama wanted somebody to help with the bailout of the US automobile industry, he turned to a Wall Street “fixer,” Steven Rattner, even though Obama knew that Rattner was under investigation for giving kickbacks to government officials. After Rattner finished his work at the White House, he settled the case with a fine of a few million dollars.

But why stop at governors or presidential advisers? Former Vice President Dick Cheney came to the White House after serving as CEO of Halliburton. During his tenure at Halliburton, the firm engaged in illegal bribery of Nigerian officials to enable the company to win access to that country’s oil fields – access worth billions of dollars. When Nigeria’s government charged Halliburton with bribery, the company settled the case out of court, paying a fine of $35 million. Of course, there were no consequences whatsoever for Cheney. The news barely made a ripple in the US media.

Impunity is widespread – indeed, most corporate crimes go un-noticed. The few that are noticed typically end with a slap on the wrist, with the company – meaning its shareholders – picking up a modest fine. The real culprits at the top of these companies rarely need to worry. Even when firms pay mega-fines, their CEOs remain. The shareholders are so dispersed and powerless that they exercise little control over the management.

The explosion of corruption – in the US, Europe, China, India, Africa, Brazil, and beyond – raises a host of challenging questions about its causes, and about how to control it now that it has reached epidemic proportions.

Corporate corruption is out of control for two main reasons. First, big companies are now multinational, while governments remain national. Big companies are so financially powerful that governments are afraid to take them on.

Second, companies are the major funders of political campaigns in places like the US, while politicians themselves are often part owners, or at least the silent beneficiaries of corporate profits. Roughly one-half of US Congressmen are millionaires, and many have close ties to companies even before they arrive in Congress.

As a result, politicians often look the other way when corporate behavior crosses the line. Even if governments try to enforce the law, companies have armies of lawyers to run circles around them. The result is a culture of impunity, based on the well-proven expectation that corporate crime pays.

Given the close connections of wealth and power with the law, reining in corporate crime will be an enormous struggle. Fortunately, the rapid and pervasive flow of information nowadays could act as a kind of deterrent or disinfectant. Corruption thrives in the dark, yet more information than ever comes to light via email and blogs, as well as Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.

We will also need a new kind of politician leading a new kind of political campaign, one based on free online media rather than paid media. When politicians can emancipate themselves from corporate donations, they will regain the ability to control corporate abuses.

Moreover, we will need to light the dark corners of international finance, especially tax havens like the Cayman Islands and secretive Swiss banks. Tax evasion, kickbacks, illegal payments, bribes, and other illegal transactions flow through these accounts. The wealth, power, and illegality enabled by this hidden system are now so vast as to threaten the global economy’s legitimacy, especially at a time of unprecedented income inequality and large budget deficits, owing to governments’ inability politically – and sometimes even operationally – to impose taxes on the wealthy.

So the next time you hear about a corruption scandal in Africa or other poor region, ask where it started and who is doing the corrupting. Neither the US nor any other “advanced” country should be pointing the finger at poor countries, for it is often the most powerful global companies that have created the problem.

Jeffrey D. Sachs is Professor of Economics and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is also Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals.