malkav11

Things I learned from reading about the fall of Enron:

High-powered executives making millions of dollars a year have the language and computer skills of 8 year old AOL users.

The government really does throw around fucktons of money. If all the "large amounts of money" talk you hear is government-related, it doesn't seem that exciting that they're spending dozens of billions on Iraq, say. Or that there's a 6 trillion dollar deficit. But Enron was a huge player, one of the biggest companies in their business. And they were, at their very peak, worth less than 100 billion dollars, and had operating numbers down around a couple of billion or less. Which is big money, of course, for you or I, but I'd somehow assumed that corporations were...well...bigger than that. (And I suppose a few are.)

Apparently the world of finance resolves almost completely around made up money and perception. I think that would drive me insane. I hate loans. I hate speculation. I hate auctions. I like to make defined amounts of guaranteed money, and spend likewise.

It would have been really great to work for Enron up until about 2000, then dump all my stock and GET OUT. Not that I would have had the chance...

My belief that government regulation is absolutely necessary beyond the shadow of doubt? Oh so reinforced.