The American Spectator

br> — Robert E. Johnson br> Attorney at law, retired (and tired) /p>

I’d like to ask Mr. Stein about where the mutual fund managers have been during this debacle. One would think that managing trillion$ of the other people’s money and getting very well compensated for it would motivate them to keep guard over questionable business practices. After all, a collapsing pyramid will likely bury the mutual fund industry along with the likes of Kenny Boy Lay and Gary Winnick.

Then again, maybe this Fed-inspired bubble is the pinnacle of man’s madness, the sort Humphrey Bogart portrayed in the “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

p>Extraordinary delusions for us all. br> — Dan Leo br> Miami Beach, FL /p>

Ben Stein replies: The performance of mutual fund managers in Enron and Global Crossing has been about as good as their ability to spot the end of the tech bubble….

Mr. Stein makes the observation that “accountants are well-paid for their efforts [in auditing] clients.” Actually, audits have become commodities, and break-even may or may not be achieved on audit assignments. Accounting firms, whether “Big 5” or otherwise, now have to rely on finding additional work — “consulting” to make profits.

It will be far more interesting to watch the dogfight over banning “consulting” assignments (if the consultant has the same tradename as the auditor) than almost any other show in Washington.

It is also interesting to note that the AICPA, which was running a big-time ad campaign and attempting to establish a “Global Credential” to be self-awarded to CPA’s as some sort of swami/guru know-it-all license, has NOT stepped up to the plate in any sort of big forum and denounced the activity of Arthur Anderson.