1 August 2002 With many Americans believing that the President supports corrupt corporate practices, President George Bush had to convince the public that he did not. His July 9th speech on corporate reform proposals didn't go over so well with the American public, according to a recent Gallup Organization poll of some 1,000 people. The poll revealed that nearly 40% said that Bush's proposals would not be effective at curbing corporate abuses, 18% said they weren't sure, and 43% expressed their …showed first 75 words of 273 total…

…showed last 75 words of 273 total…misconduct is at least relatively widespread, and 95% said business misdeeds happen at least occasionally. Meanwhile, according to Gallup's index of shareholder optimism, investors' confidence reached the lowest level this month since the index began six years ago. The confidence level was markedly lower for older investors-those who are over 40 years of age. The shareholder confidence index score for investors who are under 40 years of age was nearly twice as high as that of older investors.