Sometimes we get tugged away from the free market by government regulation, but all in all, our economic system pretty much rules the world.

But I've been noticing some unsettling trends in business practices.

First there were all the Enron, Tyco, Global Crossings, WorldCom fiascos. You know, all the under-reporting of debt and over-reporting of income to artificially inflate stock prices.

Lots of stockholders lost lots of money in those companies.

Of course this was followed closely by the Arthur Andersen accounting foibles, where that firm apparently went along with a lot of the under-reporting and over-reporting.

That's really too bad.

It tends to give capitalism a bad name. It makes CEOs look awful greedy.

And I would like to point out at this juncture that the vast majority of CEOs out there are not greedy money grubbers.

Surely they are handsomely compensated, but most, I believe, do have the best interests of their employees and boards of directors in mind when they make decisions.

And, of course, they want their companies to make money.

Enter American Airlines, the world's largest carrier.

That company isn't making any money. Far from it.

AMR, the parent of American Airlines, reported a net loss of $414 million in the third quarter.

And this is despite a half-billion-dollar bail-out package from the government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Even before 9/11, the company warned investors that a slump in business travel because of an economic slowdown coupled with higher fuel prices meant the company would probably post a loss during 2001.

Before the special charges of $397 million for the 9/11 attack and a credit of $508 million from Uncle Sam, American's net loss was $525 million in 2001.

The company cut 20,000 jobs after 9/11 to cut costs.

Things only got worse.

The company lost more than $3.5 billion last year.

Saying that those types of losses are "unsustainable" (duh), American raised the potential for bankruptcy in February when it asked employees for $1.8 billion in annual concessions.

OK, so it's pretty obvious American Airlines has some pretty serious financial problems.

So the management of American Airlines goes to their workers and asks for concessions.

The workers agreed to a package of wage and benefit cuts to save the airline money and hopefully forestall a bankruptcy filing.

Now here comes the part I just don't get. Greed is one thing, but this is just stupid.

It seems the airline delayed an SEC filing until after the agreement with the workers.

When the filing comes out, the workers find that while asking them to take deep pay cuts, management simultaneously approved bonuses and pension payments for themselves - executive perks that would be protected in bankruptcy.

Then the CEO of American, Donald Carty, apologizes for not telling workers sooner about the executive perks.

He may be sorry it's blowing up in his face, but I can't believe he's sorry for trying to slip it by the workers.

Seems to me delaying the SEC filing makes the intent of company officials pretty obvious.

They wanted to get the wage and benefit cuts passed before workers found out about their cushy little benefit package.

American has canceled the bonuses but not the $41 million in pension funding.

Too little, too late, I'm afraid.

And bonuses? Bonuses? Who in a company that posted a $3.5 billion loss last year deserves a bonus?

Are they insane?

So now the workers are probably going to balk at the agreement (can you blame them?) and bankruptcy for the airline seems imminent.

And then there's Bethlehem Steel. Once a powerhouse in the steel industry, it is now bankrupt.

Just this week, a bankruptcy judge approved a plan to sell its assets to Cleveland-based International Steel Group for $1.5 billion.

The goofy thing about Bethlehem's bankruptcy was that the company was making money. Every one of its plants was generating positive cash flow.

The problem?

Bethlehem's inability to generate enough revenue to cover the costs of pensions and health benefits for tens of thousands of retirees.

So how can ISG afford it?

Easy. ISG gets Bethlehem's steel plants in the deal, which are profitable, but not its obligation to its former workers.

So what happens to the health benefits? Poof. Gone.

The pensions were taken over by a government agency.

Also this week, we find on the Associated Press wire that lawyers for WorldCom's former chief financial officer intend to defend their client against fraud charges by showing the accounting irregularities used by WorldCom were employed throughout the industry.

Scott Sullivan pleaded innocent Tuesday to a new indictment that accuses him of lying on financial statements to secure $4.25 billion in credit for WorldCom in 2001, a year before it declared bankruptcy.

Sullivan's attorney says he'll try to subpoena other telecommunications executives, hoping to show WorldCom was not alone in its accounting flaws.

It's the "everybody's doing it" defense.

Wow, that has possibilities.

Does that mean if I drive off without paying for my gasoline and I convince all my friends to do the same, we can all get free gas?

How absurd.

Court documents show Sullivan, by the way, was the highest-paid CFO in the United States in 1997, receiving $19 million in salary, bonuses and other compensation.

He also made more than $45.3 million by selling WorldCom stock between 1995 and 2000, court papers say.

Sullivan, 40, has already pleaded innocent to charges he ordered WorldCom accountants to move operating expenses off the books so the company could appear to turn a profit when it was actually losing money.

It seems we've got some pretty wacky business practices going on and some pretty bizarre bankruptcy laws in place these days.

It's a brave new world of capitalism. Welcome to the new economy. [[In-content Ad]]