| http://www.shout.net/~bigred/enron
Enron Ruin (Conspiracy Nation, 12/19/01) -- Enron suckers who invested heavily in the benevolent Enron retirement account were not allowed to sell their shares and had to watch their savings evaporate like steam from a vaporizer. Energy giant Enron "barred them from selling Enron shares from their retirement accounts." [1] "While ordinary employees were prohibited from selling company stock from their Enron-heavy 401(k) accounts, Enron executives cashed out more than $1 billion in stock when it was near its peak..." [1] What does Enron's longtime auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, know? Why didn't they notice anything fishy until so late as Nov. 2nd? What sort of accountants are Arthur Andersen LLP? Are they "auditing" any other large corporations? Ought we to be informed about it, before our own benevolent 401(k) savings are obliterated? How is it that Kenneth Lay, CEO of Enron, was also on the board of directors of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly? What does energy have to do with pharmaceuticals? [2] Kenneth Lay, George W. Bush's largest "campaign contributor," apparently played a significant role in Veep Dick Cheney's secret "energy task force." The government's General Accounting Office (GAO) has asked to see the Cheney task force records, but GAO is being stonewalled. [3] Perhaps Kenneth Lay, Dick Cheney, and Arthur Andersen LLP are privately saying, "Let's lay low until this whole thing is forgotten." If so, then where is Walker, the Texas Ranger, now that we need him? (Suppose _you_ got pulled over by Walker, the Texas Ranger? Suppose _you_ tried to give Walker a "campaign contribution"? Hey, it's just "free speech", right?) "Did financial analysts who kept issuing 'strong buy' recommendations for Enron stock know what they were doing? Did they have a conflict of interest because of their investment firms doing financial work for Enron?" [4] And wasn't it a conflict of interest for Arthur Andersen LLP "to depend on Enron for tens of millions of dollars in consulting contracts, in addition to its auditing work?" [4] Besides the seamy aspects of "campaign contributions" serving as bribes for corporate wheeling and dealing, the looming ghost in the affair is shady accounting practices which are more widespread than people realize. ------->------- [1] Associated Press report by Marcy Gordon. 12/19/01 [2] Associated Press, 12/19/01 [3] "An Enron Link To Energy Policy?" by Adam Zagorin. Time magazine, 12/24/01 [4] Associated Press, 12/18/01 |
