European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and Stripe columns David Broder apathetic Public wants court to be the bad Guy Quot remember when people 60t Rich by makin6 Thlmas for customers Quot two of americans most prominent White Collar criminals John Poindexter and Michael Milken now await sentencing. The debate Over the appropriate disposition of their cases reflects the confusion of a society that has lost its moral bearings. Poindexter who was president Reagan a National Security adviser at the time of the Iran Contra affair has been convicted of five felony counts including conspiracy and lying to Congress. Milken the junk Bond King of Drexel Burnham Lambert has pleaded guilty to six counts of a 98-count indictment detailing some of his illegal manipulations of the financial markets. By the judgment of a jury or by confession it has been established that these two men who achieved positions of great authority and influence abused Power concealed their actions and betrayed the Public Trust. Instinct says that crimes of such magnitude Call out for severe punishment. But there Are Many who argue they should not be punished any further than they have been already. Daniel Schorr the distinguished commentator for National Public radio and an astute observer of politics for four decades wrote in the new York times that president Bush should Issue a Blanket Pardon to Poindexter convicted former National Security Council aide Oliver North and any others involved in the Iran Contra affair a out of concern for the country rather than the  in a Roundup of reaction to the Milken Case the Wall Street journal quoted a former client and business associate As saying a the does no to belong in prison. His Energy should be used somewhere  a Mutual fund manager urging mercy praised Milken As a a Man who created a revolution that allowed Small and medium sized companies to finance their  the publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine said a Mike Milken and Drexel led the Way in doing business with Black  even More incredibly Charles h. Keating jr., a Central figure in the savings and loan fiasco and the ethics investigation of five . Senators propose Dandrew Glass that Milken be made chairman of the Federal Deposit insurance corp. And be entrusted with the bailout of the looted thrifts. What we have Here is evidence that at High Levels of american society the Justice system can be thrown into disarray not just by shrewd lawyers but by genuine ambiguity about appropriate remedies. As part of his plea bargaining Milken agreed to pay a $200 million Fine to the government and to set aside another $400 million to satisfy expected financial claims from those he defrauded. That sounds like a stiff penalty. But As Many have noted it barely amounts to a years pay in the artificial world in which Milken played. Adm. Poindexter was dismissed from his White House Post when the Iran Contra manipulations became Public and his Navy career has been ended. But if he receives the same sort of Light sentence of Community service that Oliver North got he too will have the option of marketing himself to Book publishers and lecture agents eager to peddle a inside stories even or especially from tainted witnesses. But sentencing is not the real Issue. What is important is that those who break the code feel the condemnation of their society in ways that Are indelible to them a and to others watching. And that is where contemporary America fails itself so miserably. How can candidates for Congress employ Oliver North who has been convicted of lying to Congress As a fundraiser for their campaigns As several aspirants have done without incurring the scorn of the constituents to bring it closer to Home How can the american society of newspaper editors offer its platform and Accord a standing ovation to Richard Nixon the a indicted co conspirator in watergate who ordered wiretapping of reporters How can the television networks compete for the Honor of interviewing a Man who subjected his country to the needless torment of the watergate cover up sowing seeds of distrust from which we still suffer?<ai983>grag-<g<sk yet those things have happened. Sixteen years ago when president Ford pardoned Nixon i said what Dan Schorr now says of people like Poindexter and North a we All know what they did to derail the process of government. Lets get on with the pressing National problems of  so i supported the Nixon Pardon. But we americans have shown our selves incapable of enforcing Community sanctions against those who disgrace the country. We done to have the Backbone or the moral courage to shun those who betray us. And so we find ourselves calling on the courts to do our Job for us a and then quibbling about whether they have done it Well. The fault dear Brutus lies in ourselves. C Washington Post writers group expensive lessons in the Laws of economics Michael r. Milken the fallen financier and Mikhail s. Gorbachev the soviet Leader have something in common besides the same first name. Both men have sought to repeal the Laws of economics. Before running afoul of the securities Laws Milken created a Price Structure for investments that bore scant relation to the underlying value of the bartered assets. Gorbachev while calling for Broad reforms nevertheless defends a Price Structure that bears no relation to production costs. In his courtroom confession Milken went out of his Way to absolve the junk Bond Market that he had forged and that had earned him in one year alone an income of $550 million. But the falsity of Milken a claim is evident in the collapse of that Market of Drexel Burnham Lambert the securities firm that had specialized in those High yield financial instruments and in the ongoing woes of savings and loan thrifts that invested heavily in them. Business pages carry a recurring Story that of a sound company that turns in solid operating profit but still sustains huge losses because it is buried under a Mountain of debt. In the 1980s, some insiders and stockholders reaped huge gains from the leveraged buyouts that Milken had engineered. But very few of these deals spawned any genuine wealth of the sort that is conceived when say a firm markets a better computer Chip or provides a needed service. Meantime in periodic visits to the soviet hinterlands Gorbachev promises to shun a Shock therapy As he strives to introduce such Basic elements of the free Market As Competition. As a result Kremlin reformers May never achieve their goal. For the Lack of a realistic Price Structure animates much of what has gone amiss in Russia. I once visited a Moscow department store located near Kab Headquarters that featured children a goods. Much of the stuff was As Flimsy As Michael Milken a junk Bonds. It was also being offered in terms of a typical muscovites purchasing Power for astronomical prices. But in an Alcove devoted to school supplies i encountered an exquisite set of drop forged drafting tools. Taking into account the overvalued Ruble then in effect they were priced at $5.50. With devaluation the Sale Price would have been just 55 cents. A similar set of instruments imported from Germany Sells in the United states for $275. A bureaucrat had decreed that budding soviet architects should be Able to afford the tools of their Trade and had priced them according russian loaf of bread costs on retail Price Hasni to risen since 19c. American Grain processed into bread and feed it to their pigs because its cheaper to do so than to obtain hog feed. Gorbachev fears that if the Economy suffers too Many More a shocks a he could be a a shocked out of office. His dilemma is that without the lifting of Price controls and absent the dismantling of state monopolies the downward slide will Only gather Force. Meantime Back in the capitalist realm reason seemingly prevails in the financial markets for the moment. The kind of deals honest or not in which Drexel specialized simply Are no longer being made. Analysts report that the soviets have become heavy Sellers of precious metals. They apparently need the Cash to pay for the imports that so far have kept their system from completely flying apart. Under the pressure of soviet Gold sales prices have lately fallen below $375 an ounce. They would go lower still if investors were More confident. They worry about Wall Street. And they also worry about the ability of the soviet Union to negotiate its difficult passages. C new York times