Before Enron, I think people were a bit more naive about the way things worked, and I think Enron pulled the curtain back on unsavoury practices that turned out to be a lot more widespread.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
During the Enron debacle, it was workers who took the pounding, not bankers. Not only did Enron employees lose their jobs, many lost their retirement savings. That's because they were at the bottom of the investing food chain.
What Enron was doing, what caused investors to embrace it in a rapture of baffled awe, was hiding debt.
I've never commented much about my experience at Enron except to say, when I was there, it was a much more pipeline and asset-oriented company.
Early 2000s, we get Enron, which tells us the books are dirty. And what is our repeated response? We just keep pulling the threads out of the regulatory fabric.
Bush began helping Enron in the eighties.
Enron and 9/11 marked the end of an era of individual freedom and the beginning of personal responsibility.
When Enron collapsed, through court processes, thousands and thousands of emails came out that were internal, and it provided a window into how the whole company was managed. It was all the little decisions that supported the flagrant violations.
The collapse of Enron was devastating to tens of thousands of people and shook the public's confidence in corporate America.
Buying only what you know can end in disaster. Just think about Enron's employees and business partners, the 'locals' who bought lots of its stock because they thought they were in the know.
Laws were changed and regulations repealed until an Enron can set sail without responsibility, supervision, or accountability.