| | Remarks of U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development David A. Sampson David Lipscomb University Tuesday, July 9th, 2002 | Back |
| Thank you Dr. Bledsoe for the kind and gracious introduction. I am very proud to be here today as a member of the Bush administration and as a graduate of this wonderful university.The education I received at Lipscomb, both academically and spiritually, formed the foundation to whatever success I have been blessed to achieve in both my personal and professional life:I met my lovely wife here at this University at Alumni Auditorium while attending chapel. This December we will celebrate 24 years of marriage. The friendships I formed, in the very same rooms that you now share, have remained steadfast through the years and will continue to do so. My professors, who took a personal interest in my academic and spiritual development, gave me a passion for lifelong learning. I am sure they instill this passion in you as well. I encourage all of the students here to continue to pursue your academic and spiritual goals well past graduation for the rewards you will reap in your lives by remaining focused will be immeasurable. We meet today at a time of great national concern. The possibility of additional terrorist attacks, trouble in the Middle East and South Asia, a weakened economy, and shrinking government revenues have shaken the confidence of our great nation. News of scandal in the business world has shaken investor confidence. To be sure, many Americans are uncertain about the future.Many of you I'm sure are wondering: where do we go from here, some 9 months after September 11? Will the U.S. economy bounce back? Will global trade remain an engine of growth and prosperity? What about public confidence? Will America regain its footing and sense of purpose?There are mixed signs that the economy is recovering. I could recount all the economic statistics that show signs of recovery, but I am going to forgo that this morning to talk about something even more fundamental to our economy than P/E ratios, productivity, factory orders, growth in employment and GDP. I want to talk about ethics and personal responsibility.President Bush is doing everything possible to strengthen America's financial future. From tax breaks for individuals and businesses, to working to ensure America's place in the global economy by boosting exports, President Bush is working tirelessly to complete the economic turnaround.But economic turnarounds cannot, and should not, come at the expense of our ethics and values. As you have all heard in the news recently, corporate scandal has been rocking the confidence of investors, workers and average citizens in this nation. President Bush is deeply concerned about what he believes is a breakdown of ethics in corporate governance and the effect these breakdowns have been having on the economy. Later this morning on Wall Street, he will outline his aggressive agenda to hold those CEO's who abuse their trust, personally accountable.As business students at a Christian university, you are keenly aware of the importance of pursuing the highest standards of ethics in a business environment - and in life.On June 29, President Bush said, "No violation of the public's trust will be tolerated. The federal government will be vigilant in prosecuting wrongdoers to ensure that investors and workers maintain the highest confidence in American business.""America is ushering in a new era of responsibility, and that ethic of responsibility must extend to America's boardrooms. I want every American to know that the vast majority of businesspeople are honest individuals who do right by the employees and their shareholders. The unethical actions of a few should not be allowed to call into question our whole free enterprise system."So what is the Bush administration planning to do about the breakdown of ethics in corporate governance? Simply put, the President will help lead an effort to place ethics - not just the bottom line - back in the boardrooms and accounting offices of American businesses. The Administration's corporate governance plan is guided by the following core principles:- Provide better information to investors;
- Make corporate officers more accountable; and
- Develop a stronger, more independent audit system.
Throughout the decade of the '90's, we were told that personal integrity had no impact on the discharge of our public responsibilities.We now see all to clearly what happened when that mindset permeated the nation’s boardrooms. When words like “expense” and “profit” are shorn of meaning, shareholders, employees, and our market economy suffer immense harm. To put it plainly, among too many CEO’s devotion to public good during the ‘90’s has been supplanted by rampant avarice.What has set America’s robust capital market apart from the world has been the innovation of generally accepted accountancy principles former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said, "Transparency is good because it avoids surprises and shocks that cause crises. Transparency is good because, as someone once said, conscience is the knowledge that someone is watching. And it discourages bad behavior."Well, unfortunately, we now know that there was not enough scrutiny of what was going on in the 1990's.Legislation will be passed by the Congress to tighten oversight of corporate governance and accounting procedures. But business ethics and confidence in the accuracy of corporate financial reports cannot be ensured by external legal standards and more rigorous regulation alone. Ethical business practices must instead be built on the inward moral convictions of business leaders.This past Sunday in a brilliant NY Times OP ED piece entitled "Capitalism Depends On Character," Jean Strause recounted how in 1912 a lawyer for a congressional investigating committee asked financier J.P. Morgan whether bankers issued commercial credit only to people who already had money or property. Morgan said, 'No sir; the first thing is character.' "The skeptical lawyer repeated his question and Morgan in his typical Victorian terminology elaborated on his answer, 'because a man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom.'"If you take one thing to heart from our meeting today, I hope it is this - as you move from the academic world into your professional careers, I ask each of you to reflect upon the strong moral and ethical base this wonderful university has instilled in you. Capitalism and the market economy are the foundations upon which our American business community is built - but the foundation, if designed and constructed through shortcuts, quick fixes and slight of hand, will surely crumble, taking our way of life and our nations' place in history - down with it. I seem to remember a parable of Jesus from my Sunday school days about the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. "When the rains came down and the floods came up, the foolish man's house went 'splat.'" But under those same storm conditions, the wise man's house, which was built upon the rock, "stood firm."There is nothing more important in business - or in any career - than a strong moral fiber, than building your house, your life, your business and career on the solid rock of truth. The old adage is still true - "The wise man's house stood firm".Again, I thank you for coming today and may God bless you. |
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