Friday, May 19, 2006

SEC Chairman "Who Did What to Whom"

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox when commenting on the SEC's War on Vague Words said "That's the only way that investors will be able to figure out who did what to whom" George Orwell author of 1984 said "when there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns , as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttle fish squirting out ink." Before financial fraud we have linguistic fraud. The SEC in early 2006 issued a proposed rule to compel the use of plain English in corporate disclosure. Plain English seems like a very good idea. But like most good idea's how do you enforce it. If a press release was over jargoned will there be a fine.