The Haus

Monday, July 22, 2002

Worldcom Files for Chapter 11 -- 9:43 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

CNN (and everyone else for that matter) is reporting that Worldcom has filed for bankruptcy. This is the largest bankruptcy case in American history with $107 billion in assets, dwarfing Enron's $63.4 billion. Chapter 11 gives them relief from creditors to secure funding and hopefully continue operation. Of biggest concern to fans of the Internet is that Worldcom owns UUNet, which handles a good chunk of the Internet's traffic.

I have to laugh at the folks on Slashdot who go to great lengths to blame our current president for this (of course they also blame him for cancer, gout, unemployment, furries, and the new iMac). The blame needs to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the CEO and those who allowed for the "creative accounting" the caused all of this. As painful as this will be, this is exactly what we need. We need people to learn that if you are greedy and will lie to rip off shareholders, you will pay. Your company will go up in flames, you will never be a CEO anywhere again, and you might even do time. All the laws in the world can't keep this in check. Only the fear of total, cataclysmic failure will keep these jerks in line.

What now? Well, the market is going to be skittish for awhile, probably postponing a complete recovery from this recession. But in the end, the country and the market will come out of this better, wiser, and stronger. The only way the Enron and Worldcom debacles can really hurt us is if we fail to learn from them.

News for 07/22/2002

Recent Headlines

January 5, 2015: It Returns!
August 10, 2007: SCO SUCKS IT DOWN!
July 5, 2007: Slackware 12.0 Released
May 20, 2007: PhpBB 3.0 RC 1 Released
February 2, 2007: DOOM3 1.31 Patch

January 27, 2007: Join the World Community Grid
January 17, 2007: Flash Player 9 for Linux
December 30, 2006: Darkness over Daggerford 1.2
December 19, 2006: Pocket Tunes 4.0 Released
December 9, 2006: WRT54G 1.01.1 Firmware OK with Linux/Mac

All original information on this website is copyright © TheHaus.Net, 1999-2005. The use of original images, text, and/or code from this website without expressed written consent is prohibited. The authors of this site cannot be held responsible for any damage, real or imagined, which comes from the use of information presented on this site. All trademarks used are the properties of their respective owners. This site is not to be used as a floatation device (but if you try, I want a video tape of it).