Pigs at the Trough.

• Author: Lapides, Paul D.
• Position: Director Library

By Arianna Huffington

Published by Crown Publishers, New York, 275 pages, $22.00

PIG? No, NO, this book is not about you. Well, it's probably not about you. The book is about people you and I know personally and others who have betrayed millions of shareholders, employees, and customers for their personal gain. Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America is about people we have worked with in the boardroom, the executive office, and sometimes in the back room.

Did you ask for and receive a $10 million "bonus" for doing a super-duper job as a Tyco director? Did you receive billions in loans from Adelphia, hundreds of millions from WorldCom or Conseco, or lesser amounts from other companies to bail you out after you failed at managing your personal finances? Did you "cook the books" by billions at Enron or WorldCom, or lesser amounts at Qwest or AOL? Did you approve these loans or okay phony accounting? Did you know about any of these shenanigans, yet did nothing? I didn't think so. It appears that no one else did, either -- no directors, no officers, and no employees.

If you are like me and most other directors and senior executives, you think you've read enough about what happened, why it happened, and how to make sure it doesn't happen again. You haven't. There is a lot more to consider. Pigs will challenge you to think about our free enterprise system. You probably won't like some of what you read in Pigs, but you didn't like much of what you learned about Tyco, Enron, et al. The author, Arianna Huffington, correctly states that the "excesses of corporate America have become more than just a social crime. They are a direct threat to the well-being of our society."

Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist, author of nine books (including two international best sellers), and the co-host of "Left, Right and Center," a nationally syndicated talk show on public radio. You may not like some of what you think you know about Huffington, but I am confident that you will find Pigs worth reading. It is well written, well documented, concise, thought-provoking, and riveting. Yes, riveting. It is one of the best books I've read in the past year. Since it made the New York Times best-seller list almost immediately upon publication, you can be sure that many directors, executives, employees, and shareholders will read Pigs, along with lobbyists, legislators, regulators, accountants, and lawyers.

Pigs...