Living in the Enron Dream World By JOSEPH NOCERA--NYTimes

[Demeter]

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/business/17nocera.html&OP=566d168aQ2FQ27Q5BKQ51Q278oQ20gg8Q27!44kQ27E!Q27E.Q27Q51foTxKooQ27E.xgVKQ20Q5DQ3FQ268sn

(but I typed these juiciest bits from the print edition!)

"This past Tuesday, Kenneth L. Lay, the disgraced former chairman of Enron, gave a remarkable speech before a hometown crowd in Houston. It's not every day that a prominent white-collar defendant makes an impassioned public defense barely a month before his criminal trial is set to start. That sort of thing tends to tick off prosecutors, not to mention judges....

"'A great company?' 'A strong, growing, profitable company?' 'A real company, a substantial company, an honest company?' Who is he trying to kid? Actually, I know who he's trying to kid: himself. He's been kidding himself ever since Enron began its downward spiral in the summer of 2001. Indeed, it was precisely Mr. Lay's inability to look the thing straight in the eye and admit what Enron really was--a corporate version of three-card monte---that has gotten him into so much trouble.

....(fascinating and concise recap of Enron's final years)...

To my mind, the reason Mr' Lay couldn't admit the truth was because he has always taken the view that perception is reality. If he could convince people that Enron was the greatest company ever, then it surely was---and never mind that its profits were largely fiction. Mr. Lay's belief in the power of public relations is the reason he gave a news conference the day after he was indicted. And it's the reason he made that speech in Houston this week. He seems to believe that if he says something often enough, and loudly enough, it will come true."


ISN'T THIS EXACTLY WHAT THE ENTIRE MISADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN DOING LO THESE 5+ YEARS? IS THERE SOME KIND OF HALLUCINOGEN IN THE WATER IN TEXAS, OR DO THEY ALL BELONG TO SOME MIND-CONTROLLING CULT? IS THIS THE TEXAS MAFIA IN A NUTSHELL? HAVE POD PEOPLE TAKEN OVER THE GOP?

IT'S REALITY TIME FOR KENNY BOY, DUBYA'S CHIEF MONEYMAN, AND FOR THE NAKED EMPEROR HIMSELF.

[cliss]

1. Yes, you are so right.

That stark fact hit me when I was reading the article: Ken Lay sounds JUST LIKE Bush. Exactly like him.

And that's what makes these people so dangerous. I'd like to point out an important point: back in 2001 after Bush was installed in the White House, there was a Time magazine article that detailed how closely Ken Lay was involved with Bush's election. The two were intimate, close. They helped each other.

I don't think people realize how closely tied Enron was with the Bush administration. The author wrote, "It's the closest thing to having Enron in office".

And we all know how things ended up with Enron. Thanks for posting!