Criminals at Enron
There are many types of criminals that cause us outrage and anger. The drug dealer and armed robber are blights on our society that bring pain and heartache to those they touch. We think of home invaders and violators and lock our doors at night. How dare they cause us fear and others so much harm. Our fury and indignation is well justified and it is right that we should want them to pay for the hurt they have caused. I remind you today of those petty criminals to contrast the recently convicted criminals of the Enron scandal. Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were found guilty last week of fraud and conspiracy, but what does that really mean? What are they really guilty of?
The rise and fall of Enron was constructed around a shell game as crooked and as immoral as any game of Three Card Monty. Only when you reach the top of your profession do conmen and charlatans gain the title of CEO. After the partial deregulation of the Electricity market in California in 1996 Enron began “gaming the market” by creating energy shortages artificially then charging inflated rates for power that Californian cities desperately needed. The economic implications of this price gouging were immense. Often overlooked is that fact that several alterative energy companies using wind and solar failed because the state government did not have the money to pay for their product. Local conventional power suppliers also suffered having to cut 1,300 jobs just to stay solvent from 2000 to 2001. By 2000 Enron executives began to sell their stock at $90.00 a share. This was the highest mark Enron stock would ever reach even though Ken Lay and his associates were telling investors projections were to reach 130 by the end of the year. By the beginning of the year 2001 Enron stock was valued at 30 cents a share. The lie of Enron success was now obvious and the conmen were running for cover with their ill-gotten gains. 11,000 people lost their jobs and financial futures with Enron but the damage ripples far beyond the company itself.
Armed robbers have distorted motives for threatening others over a few dollars snatched from a gas station. Drug addled and addicted or uneducated and desperate are all excuses the common criminal uses to justify bad behavior. What then is the excuse of Kenneth Lay? Educated with a doctorate in economics at University of Houston and close personal friends with the Bush family, what motivated these crimes against the country at large? Greed. Power hungry and selfish they have done more damage to more people that all other thieves and conmen combined. They live in a world where money is made, not for spending, but for bragging rights on the polo field. This destructive game of corruption is played by more than just Enron executives. Be wary of those that offer something for nothing and be vigilant against those that would use corporate power and political ties to take so much from so many. Corrupt officials in politics or in business deserve our scorn and contempt as much as any other criminal, perhaps more so. If the common crook deserves the book thrown at him, Ken Lay deserves no less that a library of our collective scorn to remind him what an offensive and destructive person he has become.
The rise and fall of Enron was constructed around a shell game as crooked and as immoral as any game of Three Card Monty. Only when you reach the top of your profession do conmen and charlatans gain the title of CEO. After the partial deregulation of the Electricity market in California in 1996 Enron began “gaming the market” by creating energy shortages artificially then charging inflated rates for power that Californian cities desperately needed. The economic implications of this price gouging were immense. Often overlooked is that fact that several alterative energy companies using wind and solar failed because the state government did not have the money to pay for their product. Local conventional power suppliers also suffered having to cut 1,300 jobs just to stay solvent from 2000 to 2001. By 2000 Enron executives began to sell their stock at $90.00 a share. This was the highest mark Enron stock would ever reach even though Ken Lay and his associates were telling investors projections were to reach 130 by the end of the year. By the beginning of the year 2001 Enron stock was valued at 30 cents a share. The lie of Enron success was now obvious and the conmen were running for cover with their ill-gotten gains. 11,000 people lost their jobs and financial futures with Enron but the damage ripples far beyond the company itself.
Armed robbers have distorted motives for threatening others over a few dollars snatched from a gas station. Drug addled and addicted or uneducated and desperate are all excuses the common criminal uses to justify bad behavior. What then is the excuse of Kenneth Lay? Educated with a doctorate in economics at University of Houston and close personal friends with the Bush family, what motivated these crimes against the country at large? Greed. Power hungry and selfish they have done more damage to more people that all other thieves and conmen combined. They live in a world where money is made, not for spending, but for bragging rights on the polo field. This destructive game of corruption is played by more than just Enron executives. Be wary of those that offer something for nothing and be vigilant against those that would use corporate power and political ties to take so much from so many. Corrupt officials in politics or in business deserve our scorn and contempt as much as any other criminal, perhaps more so. If the common crook deserves the book thrown at him, Ken Lay deserves no less that a library of our collective scorn to remind him what an offensive and destructive person he has become.
posted by kamuizot at 6:37 PM
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