Proposed rule making it harder for companies to be indicted by the gov't or sued by the the public

[Robbien]

They are serious about this.

the government should be hesitant to ever indict companies, given possible damage to innocent shareholders and to the economy, and it said the law should be changed to give Washington the power to block state indictments of accounting or financial firms.

It added that if a state wanted to bring charges against either an auditing firm or a financial firm, the Justice Department should be able to block the prosecution “on the grounds of national interest.”

It also urges the commission to provide protection from lawsuits for directors who rely in good faith on auditors or on corporate officials.

And it suggests Congress consider limiting the liability of accounting firms, to protect them from collapse if they lose a major case.

and much more
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/business/30regs.html?_r=3&adxnnl=0&oref=slogin&ref=business&adxnnlx=1164901341-6BvozYN9Y3a01YwzYgxRag&pagewanted=print

Who are these people? Well

The report was produced by the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, a group co-chaired by R. Glenn Hubbard, the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and John L. Thornton, the chairman of the Brookings Institution.

The committee has no official standing, but the identities of its leaders and its formation with an endorsement from Mr. Paulson have created an expectation that it may map out the Bush administration’s final two years of strategy in capital markets.

According to the article only one lone voice is out there right now speaking against these proposed changes. Harvey J. Goldschmid, a professor at Columbia Law School:

It would. . . dramatically diminish the effectiveness of the S.E.C., of criminal enforcement, of state attorney general enforcement and of private damage actions,”

“The recent drive for accountability and deterrence would be replaced by a world in which almost anything goes,”

All very scary stuff.