The Corruption Tango (Part 2 Cease and Desist)
Part 2 of The Corruption Tango
II. Cease and Desist
I was piqued by a little commented-upon story the other day
Well it was a while ago, a little illustration of the games people play
It happened in the shadow of a tragedy you might have heard in the news
It concerned the dealings of a company that rhymes with Baker Hughes
Baker Hughes then being the world's third-largest oilfield services company
You'd no doubt hear its name in the same breath as other high flying somebodies
Like the more notorious Chevron, Exxon, or say Haliburton
Oil and gas services icons and so forth, etcetera, anon
The company's slogan they extol, I must say, is quite endearing:
Core values of integrity, teamwork, performance and learning
Indeed Baker Hughes completed 100 years of corporate history in 2007
It's a wonderful company, Texas-raised, Katrina relief, volunteer heaven
It couldn't have been good to be front and center in the New York Times
Luckily for them, a couple of fallen towers had changed the headlines
The following passage has to be one of my favourite illustrations
Of the corruption tango's reach, and enduring vexations
In an action that was filed on September 12, 2001,Now we shouldn't tar the company with a broad brush for the sins of bad apples
And received little attention at the time, (imagine that?)
Baker Hughes agreed to a cease-and-desist order
Issued by the Securities and Exchange Commision, which said that
It had (repeatedly) violated the Corrupt Practices Act
By bribing an official in Indonesia.
That cease-and-desist order appeared to have had little impact
On the company's behavior, (they stayed on the wrong track)
The S.E.C. action filed Wednesday indicated
It said the payments in Kazakhstan and Angola
Went on from 1998 to 2003, while those to an agent
Involved in securing business in Russia
And Uzbekistan went on from 1998 to 2004, and payments in Indonesia
Went on from 2000 to 2003. Payments in Nigeria
Were made from 2001 to 2005, the S.E.C. said.
In 2003, the company initiated an investigation,
But, the S.E.C. said, it did not uncover some of the violations,
Which allowed them to continue. (End of digression)
As we surely know that there are rogue elements in the wild, at any level
We need to tread carefully with allegations of insider trading
The bezzle takes a plethora of forms, not least self dealing
It's a matter of concern that culture can undermine the sinews
Far be it to attack the company that rhymes with Baker Hughes
There is a serious commitment to governance, audit, ethics and the environment
I need not say more, there are vast quantities of material on their web site
And, of course, all companies are made out of people in reality
And there are only people behaving, and sometimes, behaving badly
Go back to the founders, Howard Hughes senior's name adds color to the dance
James Ellroy made American Tabloid pulp out of the sleaze of the son
Heck I know some of those characters, the company's storied alumni include Red Adair
Good old John Wayne depicted him in a great b-movie as a prized hellfighter
So distinguished is the composition of its board, it isn't funny
I guess it's plainly obvious that Big Oil attracts Big Money
Check the resumes: Big Banks, Big Real Estate, and Big Property
Curriculum vitae: Imperial Tobacco, Big Insurance, Big Industry
Big Politics, former U.S. Ambassadors to Israel, Syria, the Pentagon
Big Men, Generals and Comptrollers of the U.S. Army, Federal Credit Unions
Needless to say the lineup of shareholders and executives are storied
How then could they possibly be out of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley?
With that kind of oversight, no one should ever question their integrity
I only mention the story to highlight the interplay, the weakness of humanity
The logic of capitalism: the perverse incentives for those in the know
It is no secret, after all, that it takes two to do the corruption tango
Cease and Desist: A Playlist
A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)
- Don't Be that Way by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
- Stop Shammin' by Big Daddy Kane
- I Don't Want To Do Wrong by Gladys Knight & the Pips
- Stop! Don't by Count Basie and Joe Williams
- I Don't Need This Trouble by Alice Russell
- Stop by J Dilla
- I Don't Go For That by Quincy Jones
- Stop Think it Over by Jimmy & Eddie
- Stop by Lizz Wright
- It Don't Work Like That by Bugz in the Attic
- You Can't Stop The Rain by Loose Ends
- Can't Stop A Man by Beres Hammond
- I Can't Go For That by Hall & Oates
- Can't Stop by After 7
- Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough by Michael Jackson
I was tempted to use I Can't Help It instead but I think this message better fits the behavior and modus operandi of the company that rhymes with Baker Hughes and others in that vein.
See also: The Corruption Tango: A Playlist
The Corruption Tango
A dance in four movements. I nominate this internal displacement for The Things Fall Apart series under the banner of Fallen Angels.
Next: Part 3 The Temptation of Black Gold
File under: corruption, culture, observation, perception, humour, USA, rogues, oil, Black Gold, gremlins, parasites, interplay, capitalism, poetry, economics, regulation, Fallen Angels, Africa, Observers are worried, Things Fall Apart, toli
Writing log: Concept: July 7, 2005; March 9, 2021
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