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Enron
collapse hits close to home Despite what political pundits might say, the collapse of Houston-based energy giant Enron Corp. is not a political scandal. It does not really matter that Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay called Commerce Secretary Don Evans in late October to warn him the company might be going belly up. It doesn’t really matter that Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill heard the news in November. Andrew Card, White House chief of staf, knew too. President Bush, who received enormous campaign contributions from Enron and its executives, denies knowing anything about the company’s imminent demise, but who cares. In the end, telephone tag aside, their knowledge and their possible conflicts of interest miss the point. The only reason Bush is important in this scenario is because he should be the one most outraged by this theft in the name of capitalism. He should be reaching out to the families affected by this atrocity. He should request aide for them or offer help instead of silence, but his hands are tied by purse strings. He is going to sit idly by while his colleagues investigate this mess to death. Enron’s Dec. 2 bankruptcy, the largest in U.S. history, is a tragedy of monumental human scope for the company’s loyal employees and their families. By the time the company filed bankruptcy, its stock plummeted from $83 a share to less than $1. Early investigations indicate that executives sold their stock, but Enron employees were barred from doing so by a clause in their 401(k) retirement funds. Men and women who once trusted their employers are now coping with the ultimate betrayal. Retirement homes gone. Nest eggs destroyed. Hopes dashed. Employees were left with nothing to show for their years of service but a pink slip. While they worked day-in-day-out for a company that many didn’t even know was in trouble, executives were lining their pockets. While they saved for a rainy day, their bosses were filing their private war chests with enough money to build the Ark. The demise of Enron over the years was so systematic, so well hidden by Arthur Andersen LLP, one of the nation’s leading accounting firms, that it is mind-boggling. The Senate committee investigating the collapse of Enron has reason to believe Arthur Andersen officials may have directed Enron documents be destroyed. Representatives on the House Commerce Committee say they are looking into whether insider trading paid off big for executives. To describe the Enron executives who stole from and lied to their employees as deceptive crooks is simply not adequate. People like them are the worst kind of evil. The bankruptcy of Enron will certainly keep those on Capitol Hill busy with committee meetings and hearings galore, but it is not the officials we should be concerned about. It is the citizens, our neighbors, loved ones and friends who have been left holding nothing but the pieces of their shattered American dreams. Senior
reporter Jaime Walker is a senior news editorial major from Roswell,
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