For corporate America as a whole, 1997 was a watershed year. According to government statistics, overall corporate profits grew rapidly between 1992 and 1997, but then stalled; after-tax profits in the third quarter of 2000 were barely higher than they were three years earlier. But the operating earnings of the S.&P. 500 — that is, the profits companies reported to investors — grew 46 percent over those three years.

Basically, public companies are lying to their investors, and there is not a significant amount of pressure in D.C. to change the accouting rules. It's a shame, because people are being manipulated. This is certainly not the first time I've seen the Operating Earnings (annual report or pro-forma earnings announcements) compared to the 10-K earnings (reported to the SEC), and the differences are astounding.

It's not just Enron, far from it. Almost everyone plays the game of rigging the earnings. I can't figure out why it's not getting more attention. Of course, I can't figure out why newspapers run front page stories about how great the economy is and then hide the dismal numbers deep within the business section...