BWP on "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"
by Joshua Minton
There are times when I am speechless and I've been patient waiting to watch the movie that tells the Enron story.
I am normally not a viscious man. I don't believe in overpunishing.
But when it comes to Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andy Faustau, and whoever else was at the helm while Enron deliberately caused rolling blackouts and energy shortages in California and then resold the same energy that was there back to the state to the tune of 30 billion dollars while the Executives set up false side companies to hide debt and while they put fake profits on the books, profits that would never surface--the Executives started looking for a way out and dumped all their millions in stock while the assets of those far below them were frozen, leaving them to rot in the poor house--I tend to get a little upset.
I am so upset after watching this that if there was a public crucifixion of these men, I would probably attend it and cheer when they cried out for mercy.
Watch this movie. Get pissed off. Start paying attention to what your company is doing because chances are that this evil is alive everwhere in corporate America.
There is something so insidious at work in the traders who caused blackouts in California in order to reap windfall profits. Some kind of humanity gap occurred that I immediately refer back to the Holocaust to find a commonality.
Now, I am given to believe in Adam Smith's thesis that the quest for personal gain in an open market place tends to yield the highest social good. But I do have to admit that this type of freedom also opens the doors for situations like Enron. Now, I'm questioning where the lines are and where they should be.
What do you think?
LINKS:
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Enron Trial Watch Blog
TAGS:
Enron, The Smartest Men in the Room, Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andy Fastau,
I am normally not a viscious man. I don't believe in overpunishing.
But when it comes to Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andy Faustau, and whoever else was at the helm while Enron deliberately caused rolling blackouts and energy shortages in California and then resold the same energy that was there back to the state to the tune of 30 billion dollars while the Executives set up false side companies to hide debt and while they put fake profits on the books, profits that would never surface--the Executives started looking for a way out and dumped all their millions in stock while the assets of those far below them were frozen, leaving them to rot in the poor house--I tend to get a little upset.
I am so upset after watching this that if there was a public crucifixion of these men, I would probably attend it and cheer when they cried out for mercy.
Watch this movie. Get pissed off. Start paying attention to what your company is doing because chances are that this evil is alive everwhere in corporate America.
There is something so insidious at work in the traders who caused blackouts in California in order to reap windfall profits. Some kind of humanity gap occurred that I immediately refer back to the Holocaust to find a commonality.
Now, I am given to believe in Adam Smith's thesis that the quest for personal gain in an open market place tends to yield the highest social good. But I do have to admit that this type of freedom also opens the doors for situations like Enron. Now, I'm questioning where the lines are and where they should be.
What do you think?
LINKS:
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Enron Trial Watch Blog
TAGS:
Enron, The Smartest Men in the Room, Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andy Fastau,
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