Information moves markets and on Wall Street, every day is Election Day. Particular care is needed these days, when the sun never sets on the financial markets or the financial news. Getting it wrong was less risky when you just had the Wall Street Journal , two business wires and a few business magazines. But with all-business cable, satellite broadcasting and the World Wide Web, we've given new meaning to Mark Twain's observation that a lie travels around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes. Today, a stock can tank and a bank can close before the truth can even put on its socks.
Business is held accountable all the time by shareholders, the government, and the press.
Smart businesses also hold themselves accountable. We know that some entities try to have it both ways - get the press, but avoid the accountability. But if the news is good enough to announce, it's good enough to follow up on. That's what we decided when Fannie Mae announced our Trillion Dollar Commitment five years ago. We pledged to invest one trillion dollars in mortgage financing for low-income and other underserved families, and do it by the end of the year 2000.