A shared culture and language means that Britain often copies America’s behaviour and even its obsessions. Sometimes this “special relationship” can be a good thing – but at others, very damaging. The attacks on September 11 2001 sent the US into a state of paranoia from which it has not yet recovered. Sadly, we joined it in the mad escapade to Iraq, with horrific consequences for almost everyone concerned.
But politics was not the only sphere where the US establishment went slightly psychotic in late 2001. In December that year, Enron filed for bankruptcy and Arthur Andersen, the accountancy firm, ceased trading as a consequence just months later.
No doubt both organisations were deeply flawed – especially Enron – but the cure has been much worse than the disease.
Because of those accounting and corporate scandals – and others such as WorldCom and Tyco – Washington policymakers rushed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into law. The true cost of this folly to business is incalculable: not just in higher fees but also in its chilling effect on enterprise and experimentation.
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