Today CNBC's NetNet ran a great piece by their Senior Editor John Carney (http://www.cnbc.com/id/44599404/comid/1/cache/238#comments_top) about a fund manager's idea that the government should "license" board directors. John classifies this as "The Worst Idea of the Week" and I agree. I wrote a comment to his piece as follows:

There is no need for the government to "license" board members whatsoever. There already exists several Director Education groups within the country.

What really needs to happen is for more asset and mutual fund managers to take a greater interest in corporate governance, not only as an investment risk, but also as a force multiplier for alpha. If the largest holders of shareholder value behaved more like Bill Ackman, the Pershing Square Hedge Fund Manager, everyones equity investment boat would rise. And we also wouldn't have the need for Sarbanes-Oxley or Dodd-Frank.

This country is awash in MBA's and CFA's who wouldn't buy a car before looking at the car-fax, but would invest other peoples' money in the next Enron. They wouldn't hire a Jr. book-keeper without a background check, but couldn't care less about the corporate character of a firm added to the S&P 500 index. This idiocy and willful ignorance has to stop.

And this is why their should be some form of fiduciary standard enforced upon these firms - the largest holders of shareholder equity in America.