Air America: What Demos Are Up Against

[Nbadan]

This is why, despite public disapproval ratings higher than those for Darth Cheney, Republican Congressional coffers aren't hurting for funds this re-election season, while the Demos have to basically, pass the hat.

An internal ABC Radio Networks memo obtained by Media Matters for America, originally from a listener to The Peter B. Collins Show, indicates that nearly 100 ABC advertisers insist that their commercials be blacked out on Air America Radio affiliates. According to the memo, the adverstisers insist that "NONE of their commercials air during AIR AMERICA programming." Among the advertisers listed are Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, Federal Express, General Electric, McDonald's, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the U.S. Navy.

Media Matters

[Nbadan]

The Payoff? 1. Torm reform for corporations
October 29, 2006
Businesses Seek Protection on Legal Front
By STEPHEN LABATON

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28

— Frustrated with laws and regulations that have made companies and accounting firms more open to lawsuits from investors and the government, corporate America — with the encouragement of the Bush administration — is preparing to fight back.

Now that corruption cases like Enron and WorldCom are falling out of the news, two influential industry groups with close ties to administration officials are hoping to swing the regulatory pendulum in the opposite direction. The groups are drafting proposals to provide broad new protections to corporations and accounting firms from criminal cases brought by federal and state prosecutors as well as a stronger shield against civil lawsuits from investors.

Although the details are still being worked out, the groups’ proposals aim to limit the liability of accounting firms for the work they do on behalf of clients, to force prosecutors to target individual wrongdoers rather than entire companies, and to scale back shareholder lawsuits.

The groups hope to reduce what they see as some burdens imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, landmark post-Enron legislation adopted in 2002. The law, which placed significant new auditing and governance requirements on companies, gave broad discretion for interpretation to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The groups are also interested in rolling back rules and policies that have been on the books for decades.

NY Times

Predictably, Darth Cheney came out swinging against Sarbanes-Oxley today...

Cheney: U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley rules may be excessive

WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Cheney said on Monday that the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law may have gone too far with regulations that many business consider onerous and costly.

"I think you can make a case that Sarbanes-Oxley went too far," Cheney said on the CNBC television program, Kudlow and Company.

Reuters

Translation: No accountability on financial statements. Let the corporate boards bilk investors to their hearts' content, and let accounting firms adopt the corrupt accounting practices of the likes of Arthur Andersen, if it protects the little guy while corporations have to struggle on record profits, it must be done away with immediately.

[Yonivore]

Translation: No accountability on financial statements. Let the corporate boards bilk investors to their hearts' content, and let accounting firms adopt the corrupt accounting practices of the likes of Arthur Andersen, if it protects the little guy while corporations have to struggle on record profits, it must be done away with immediately.

No, I read it to say, "I think you can make a case that Sarbanes-Oxley went too far."

[Spurminator]

Do any of those companies advertise on Right Wing radio?

And what does this have to do with campaign fincance?

[Spurminator]

Here you go, Dan, this will help you cross-reference that list of sponsors with Right Wing Radio sponsors.

http://www.topplebush.com/boycott_rush.shtml

Look at all those blue chip advertisers!!

[YoMamaIsCallin]

OK let's snap back to reality here.

re Air America... didn't they recently file for bankruptcy? Aren't their ratings incredibly low? I see both of those things are true: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_Radio -- could this have something to do with corporations decisions not to run ads there? Like maybe they won't get any return from their investment?

re corporations and regulations: First, do you really think a corporation would not buy ads if they thought the net gain for them was positive, despite any political issues? They are driven, relentlessly, by the need to increase revenue and profits. That's not political.

Second, do you follow any of the business press about SOX? Compliance costs are well into the billions of dollars. And if you are associated with business at all, you will know that many actions and decisions are now being taken because of fear of SOX compliance issues rather than because of sound business reasons. It really warps the free-market productivity and growth engine. This is not to say that something did not need to be done after the accounting scandals of the 90s, but a case can be made that the pendulum swung too far and some tweaks and adjustments need to be made.

[xrayzebra]

Rest easy Dan, as soon as you get the dimm majority in congress they will
introduce another "equal time" bill, so Rush and others like him will have to
share their time. That is the Liberal way. You know the Liberal way or no
way.

[Ocotillo]

Depends on the market regarding Air America ratings.