Enron on NOW last night.

[cornermouse]

It was something like "It looked good and we believed it because we really wanted to believe it". And the parallel between what Enron, their accountants, and banks did to Enron's shareholders and what Bush and Wall Street have been doing were striking.

[Hugin]

1. It's important to keep aware of the business of this administration....

Even if they "hardly never met" Ken Lay. While flying on Enron's
corporate jet.

[necso]

2. A quibble.

Enron was made to look good. And there were people who could have seen the reality if they had looked for it. (Just knowing how Enron was doing accounting should have been enough to sound some alarm bells.). And there were people whose job it was to know the real deal. But, of course, we live in a corporate (and broader) culture of hype and profiteering, and those who look too closely at what's behind the smokescreen can generally be expected to be selected out of this culture, or relegated to its fringes -- at least if they don't play along and pretend that "it's all good".

Having a "positive" attitude is often a requirement for being a player in these sorts of farces, and you can see this attitude in Ken Lay's continuing portrayal of a rosy picture when Enron was actually going down the tubes. "Are you smoking crack?", one employee (supposedly) asked him at such a moment.

The answer is (probably) no. Lay was playing the hype game to the very end -- and likewise the game of "I really believed....", which is a stance (and a preparation) helpful for the game that sometimes ensues after the hype game, the criminal/civil prosecution game. (In a really well run gang of corporate thieves (etc), maintaining plausible deniability is a fundament.)

The "boys" at Enron were gaming the system all along. But this is a pattern that is to be found widely throughout human affairs. The "boys" at Enron just pushed the game to a point where there wasn't enough hype to save their sorry, criminal asses. Of course, this sort of collapse has a lot to do with the financials -- but it also has a great deal to do with the hype -- and the collaboration of fellow hypsters in the wider community.

In the case of Enron, the "boys" may have done the one thing liars can never afford to do -- really believe their own lies. But, sadly, this is also a common occurrence, although one fraught with the potential for disaster.

...

A program well worth watching.

[Hugin]

3. Excellent point.

Nice synopsis of what ails.

Thanks!

[0007]

4. Don't anyone lose sight that the Bush family and Ken Lay were

very very very close.

Can't wait to see the Enron documentary. Does anyone know when PBS is gonna show this?

[marzipanni]

5. Delusional megalomaniacs! Read this thread about Bushco-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4346346