We like to get all outraged whenever a few dozen people die in a plane crash. But we have tens of thousands die every year in car crashes. We are shocked by immediacy and big events even when rationally we know that the long, slow accumulation always wins on sheer numbers.

Now look at Microsoft vs. WorldCom. How much did WorldCom supposedly mis-state? Under $4-billion. And that was just reporting it as capital expenses rather than operating expenses to smooth the depreciation. The stock market throws a fit and WorldCom is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Microsoft turns what, about $20-billion a year? How much of that is due to abuse of their monopoly? If it's even 20% that's more than WorldCom's offence, and they're doing it every year. Besides which, every dollar lost to Microsoft's monopoly is a dollar not spent on real captial improvements, or on one of their competitors who therefore goes out of business.

I'm not necessarily saying Microsoft is definitely the worst of the current crop of scandals, but for longevity and fraud I think they're definitely in the running.