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SECTION ONE
Allegory Number One: ICARUS
Icarus tries to escape captivity with wings made of feathers and wax,
ignoring conventional wisdom -- then he flies too close to the sun. Like
Icarus, Enron wanted to be greater than just a Texas Gas Company -- it
wanted to play in the "big leagues." Managers threw out the
rulebooks. And just like Icarus, its success was the seed of its destruction.
"A Most Spectacular Disaster"
Paul Krugman's colloquy on the theme that Enron's hubris is really a lesson for all of us; the spectacular collapse, though longer and more drawn out than the September tragedy, is bigger than 9/11 as a watershed event. The great irony is that most Americans have no real idea of its significance."How to Talk to Your Children About Enron"
How did Enron unravel? Who were the players are, and why was what they did "bad?" And more importantly -- how do we tell our kids about it? "Touchy-feely" music as from an instructional tape for parents meshes with a child's voice asking tough questions to an expert, who supplies completely lucid answers.
"What the World Needs Now"
C.C. Baxter is the accountant played by Jack Lemmon in "The Apartment." A loyal, cooperative and reliable employee, he runs face-first into a dilemma when the boss wants to borrow the apartment for an affair. After much soul searching, Baxter says no -- losing money, power and the key to the executive washroom -- but saves his soul. This audio commentary by D.T. Max features clips from the famous movie and makes the case that what the business world needs now is the return of "the straightforward bean-counter."
 Compliments of Cartoonbank.com, with special thanks to Robert Mankoff. For more Enron cartoons, check out Cartoonbank.com. |
SECTION TWO
Allegory Number Two: THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
The fable is not just about how the masses fear challenging authority,
but about the intoxicating power of wishing something were so. Likewise,
the financial press and industry analysts dropped the ball on Enron --
failing to make the hard calls that would have sounded the alarm bells
much earlier.
"In Whom do We Trust?"
This feature story examines what issues prevented the media and industry analysts from making the call that Enron was headed for a cataclysmic fall. Sandy Tolan tells the uncomfortable truths about how Americans get their information about money, and whether they should be trusted, through interviews with former "Forbes" editor Jim Michaels, attorney Jake Zamansky, CNBC anchor Consuelo Mack and "whistle-blowers" Daniel Scotto, Wall Street analyst, and "Fortune Magazine" reporter Bethany McLean."The 'Real' Scandal"
"Conflict of Interest" may emerge as the most important issue in financial circles for the next several years. This is a Q&A with Former SEC chief Arthur Levitt, who claims the media's fixation on political influence prevented reporters from covering the real scandal -- the erosion of auditing/accounting independence. Auditors should have blown the whistle, but they didn't because they had a vested interest in Enron's future. The possible price: a loss of confidence in the markets and a premature end to the personal finance revolution.
"End and Beginning of an Era"
"Fortune Magazine" writer Adam Lashinsky says it's possible to see Enron as a 21st century version of the events that triggered the Great Depression. We didn't see Enron's collapse coming because watchdogs didn't understand what Enron had become. Enron demands a 21st century regulatory vision. Just as the Depression gave birth to the SEC, shouldn't government regulators be thinking about how to transform themselves to meet new demands?"Doing the Numbers on Enron"
A Marketplace Classic, with "Stormy Weather" musical accompaniment, David Brancaccio uses the numbers associated with the Enron bankruptcy to paint a picture of the size and scope of the ripple effects.»Check out the Enron scandal by the numbers:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/energy/2002-01-22-enron-numbers.htm»Check out the Enron - Crisis and Opportunity:
SECTION THREE
Allegory Number 3: NARCISSUS
Narcissus, handsome though he was, came to love looking at his reflection
in the pool so much that he one day tried to kiss it -- and fell in the
water.
"The Sting"
Jason Leopold, reporter for Dow Jones Newswires, says that Enron went to unbelievable lengths to paint a picture of success. In 1998, Enron executives staged an elaborate sting to convince analysts of Enron's worth by having secretaries pretend to be conducting business on phones that weren't even connected.»For more information, check out En-Ruse? Workers at Enron Say:
"This is Only a Test: Entropy Quiz"
So how much do you really know about the Enron collapse, what it means for the long term, and what it says about our economy? Do you understand the "terms of art?" Using a mock TV game show called Entropy, Alec Trivet will ask the important questions, and our in-studio panel will vie for the best score. Log-on and test what you think you've learned."The Best Tonic may be a Good Laxative"
Enron may have scared the, er, shirts off our backs, but it may be just what the economy needs. From campaign finance reform to pension reform, and a rethinking of the merits of laissez-faire regulation and the role of government, this spectacular crash creates opportunity for good - or, for a lot of worthless legislation and expensive litigation. The choice is ours.
A commentary by David Gergen."The Way Forward"
Marketplace host David Brancaccio wraps up the Blind Trust Special, and warns that the way forward may not be as much fun. Fixing the "broken parts" of the way we do business is tedious work and those that want no part of change are counting very much on our short attention spans.
