This is old news, I know, but I saw Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room for the first time last night when it aired on PBS.
I had followed the Enron case, but there were things that I learned of that I hadn’t known. For example, Enron traders actually had some of their power plants shut down under various false pretenses during the rolling blackouts in California in order to artificially inflate the cost of electricity they were passing on to you, the consumer. They have some audio of traders patting themselves on the back and laughing — it’s really beyond my ability to comment on it, it’s so horrid.
This kind of crime just makes me boil with rage. Someday this kind of crap will hopefully be seen as just one notch above child molester. Maybe when we stop worshipping the almighty buck.
I saw this last night for the first time, as well. Funny, you used the EXACT same adjective I used when I was discussing this with my husband: molest. Like you, I knew about the scandal, but also learned of so many details last night that truly just blew me away. It just makes a person rethink everything they thought they knew and trusted in “Coporate American.”
I hear ya, loud and clear.
And I realize it’s kind of a mistake to focus *all* my bile and rage on Ken Lay. Particularly when the filmmakers in the interview at the end mention that one thing they carried away with them was the sad realization that many of the individuals who were complicit in all this terrible stuff walked away from it without even so much as a slap on the hand.
I thought I responded. Hmmm…
After watching this show last night, I went to bed. As I was in the ‘tween state, a thought hit me and almost made me sick. You know how they showed connections between Lay and Bush? Well, about 2-3 weeks ago, I got an email comparing two houses: one very eco-friendly, practically self-sustaining ranch and an energy-guzzling McMansion. The owners of the houses are Bush and Gore and “W” is the owner of the ranch. Well, the “thought” that smacked me on the head last night was, “Of course W’s is the energy efficient … he knew the real deal that was going on with Enron.”
*sighs*
How many showers will it take to feel clean again?