Smart Kids Lie: What About The Adults?

About ten years ago, Professor Winston (now Lord Winston) showed in a BBC series how even very young children lie:

 “Around 70% of three-year-olds who are told not to peek at a new toy when an adult leaves the room do so and then lie that they have not looked.

‘The smartest lie,’ says Professor Winston.”

It was a slightly cruel demonstration as an electrical train set was set in motion behind the child. You need to be quite stupid to follow instructions.                                          ……………more

Lehman: Repo 105: The perfect financial fig leaf

“…….Lehman ‘did not disclose ... that it had been using an accounting device to manage its balance sheet – by temporarily removing approximately $50bn of assets ... at the end of the first and second quarters of 2008.’

That device involved the temporary sale of assets including loans and mortgages – which would generate cash to make Lehman look far stronger and cash rich than it actually was.

©2009 Am Ang Zhang

The report lambasts what it calls this "actionable balance sheet manipulation" by executives, including the former Lehman Brothers chief executive, Richard Fuld. It has said there could be legal claims against them and against Ernst & Young.”

See also:

 

To Intervene Or Not: A Colossal Failure Of Common Sense.

Guardian Update, Gimmicks ,Times

Cheats at Royal Mail fix delivery times

“Postcomm, the postal regulator, found that countless workers - from postmen to area managers - were involved in a widespread operation to intercept mail sent out by an independent monitoring company.

Staff worked out how to identify "test" letters posted to monitor deliveries, and gave them priority treatment to ensure they arrived on time.

“The scandal is thought to have been going on for at least eight years. Senior bosses, including Adam Crozier, the chief executive, have been paid tens of thousands of pounds in bonuses based on the company's "service quality" figures, which include data on delivery times.

Dentist faking patients to claim from NHS

BBC 20 May 2008

“A dentist and his wife who stole more than £30,000 from the NHS by claiming money for treatment never given to patients have been jailed.

Newton Johnson, 52, and his wife Judith, 51, also claimed for treatment for "phantom" patients, which included the name of a family pet dog.”

US Medicare

“The system of private contractors policing the $250 billion-a-year Medicare program is riddled with conflicts of interest, financial disincentives and regulatory breakdowns so severe that fraud and abuse bleed tens of billions of dollars from the program every year.”

 

Medicare Fraud

MSNBC

 

MP Expenses:

“Baroness Uddin claimed £100,000 in public money by naming an allegedly empty flat in Kent as her main home, while living in a flat just four miles from Parliament.

She was investigated by police over allegations that she had misused the £174-a-night allowance intended for peers who have to stay overnight in London while living elsewhere in the country.

But in an unprecedented intervention, Keir Starmer said that she had not been charged because the Lords’ rules were so lax.”

If they are not in government, where are they?

 

Ex-NHS: Patricia Hewitt: now with Cinven (Bupa Hospitals)

Simon Stevens: now with UnitedHealth

 

Related:

NHS & the Repeal Of The Glass-Steagall Act