Dear FRONTLINE,
I am an ex-employee of mci-worldcom. I was laid-off summer of 2002. My whole way of life was dependent on my earnings from my job at Mci worldcom. And I gave 200%, not to mention sacrfice of my family's well being. I can't help but to feel "cheated". Now I have no insurance or income. My family depended on me! I depended on Mci worldcom, not for charity, but to take care of my family's needs, through the hard work I did for the past 15 years. I would like to know,being an investor also, how are "We" the investors/employees,ex-employee's to recover loss sustained through stock investing, employee stock options, and loss of livelyhood? Please help.
silveta morris
Dear FRONTLINE,
This was a good program but I think more time should be devoted to excerpts from the hearings that were held in Congress on the investment banks, the brokerage houses and analysts. In addition some more in depth reporting on how the Glass Stegall Act came about and why there was a need for this legislation. I was surprised in 1999 when the act was repealed that there was not a greater outcry.
While I commend the efforts of our attorney general Eliot Spitzer, I realize that he has limits within which to operate. Now while the individual investors have remedy in the courts, the reality of the situation is that the small individual investor will not have the resources to go up against the big banks and brokers and I fear that the arbitration process will probably only award them with a fraction of their original investment.
It is a shame that in this country a man that is guilty of stealing say a $100.00 or having possesion of a few grains of cocaine could probably get a life sentence and yet all of these crooks will go free after having stolen billions of dollars and ruined millions of lives.
Aramintha Grant
Bronx, NY
Dear FRONTLINE,
Only a fraction of the pressure to keep analyst recomendations insanely optomistic has been addressed. Mutual funds, businesses with stock outstanding, and anyone else benefiting from increasing stock valuation will continue to pressure analysts to promote overvalued stocks.
Clifford Eddy
Dear FRONTLINE,
The Federal Reserve FORCED Congress to repeal legislation aimed at curbing the market abuses that then occurred? This seems a mighty peculiar view of the Congress and its powers and duties. Where was the video of our Congressmen making impassioned speeches for the deregulation that turned these thieves loose on the American public? Could it have been juxtaposed with video of the same Congressmen questioning these jackals in an OUTRAGED manner for doing exactly what Congress allowed them to do? What was the vote tally in Congress on the repeal of Glass-Steagle? And what was the media's role in facilitating this swindle by just this sort of reporting?
eric sutphin
Dear FRONTLINE,
Your show exemplifies the importance of publicly funded television and motivates me to make a contribution.
I hope for the sake of our country that our court system is strong enough to convict these wrong doers and that it won?t be corrupted by big money. I believe through conversations I?ve had that investors worldwide are greatly disappointed in the settlement reached by Eliot Spitzer, New York State's Attorney General. Faith and trust in American?s financial systems can only be restored by aggressive prosecution of the people at Citigroup that were aware of, allowed, and orchestrated this fraudulent activity.
The American public and investors worldwide need to see significant fines, restitution for those harmed, and jail time for the perpetrators.
We lost a great deal of money to these people, money that was intended to fund the education of our four children.
Steve Roux
Groton, MA
Dear FRONTLINE,
As a former retail stockbroker, an investor, and a strong believer in the stock market, I was not surprised by the decision not to prosecute, Bernie Ebbers, Sandy Weill and Jack Grubman.
The SEC and NASD are quite willing to hammer a local broker for breaking the rules as they should but are never willing to prosecute executives who break the rules.
While NY Attorney General Spitzer is to be commended for investigating the Citicorp/World Com scandal, his decison to allow these men to escape prosecution is a disgrace. The only way to end these abuses is to put violators in jail and to confiscate their wealth.
Augustus Goddard
Atlanta, GA
| 
