[BluH2o]

ABC's GMA interviewed a 21 year employee of Enron this morning. He lost nearly all of his 401K ... valued at nearly $500 thousand at one point ... now just a few thousand dollars. The contrast was made with senior level management who were able to squirrel away millions (in one case $160 million) before Enron collapsed.
The GMA hosts delighted in pointing out the Enron connection to the Bush administration.

The Bush people need to put this fire out immediately.

[Alberta's Child]

ABC's GMA interviewed a 21 year employee of Enron this morning. He lost nearly all of his 401K ... valued at nearly $500 thousand at one point ... now just a few thousand dollars.

This 21-year employee is a moron. Nobody with any financial sense would have almost their entire 401(k) account invested in one company. In fact, a good financial planner will tell you that you should NEVER invest more than a token amount of money in your employer if it is a publicly-traded company.

[mewzilla]

The Bush people need to abide by the law. If Enron execs broke the law, then they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And ABC needs to do its homework. Enron was also very cozy with the previous administration. It didn't seem to bother ABC then.

[GEC]

If they held so much sway with W, how come they're bankrupt?

What good did all the connections do them?

Nada.

Sure, the golden parachutes get theirs, but that's true in any corporation.

The solution is to get your own corporation, rather than relying on someone else to give you a 401K.

Why wasn't this guy complaining about high energy prices when his 401K was at 500,000?

[woofie]

A lot of good the connection with GW has done them......Doesnt sound like a fire to me ....a fire sale maybe

[staytrue]

For a different perspective on Enron (and one that blames Clinton/Gore/Ron Brown for the Enron fiasco) click here

[TADSLOS]

This is a dead end story. Enron is a victim of it's own poor fiscal management. If Bush gives them a bailout package (which he won't) then there would be a story. The news networks are scraping the ground for mud to sling and will come up empty handed.

[MizSterious]

It's a pity that they don't consider the Clinton-Gore connections to the Enron mess. See this article posted here yesterday: Clinton-Gore sales team eased Enron's path to success for a more balanced look at this story.

[Phantom Lord]

I was listening to NPR on the way home from work the day Enron filed Chap. 11. They were talking about how a bunch employees put 100% of the 401(k) into Enron stock back in the summer. They even had one of the families on that did this. One guy put all of his 401(k), worth $2.5 Million, into Enron stock. Now worth virtually nothing. While it is a horrible thing to happen to anyone and something you wouldnt wish on most of your enemies, these people must have known it was not a good idea. They were looking at Enron stock and the companies projected $120 stock price and they got greedy.

The company I work for limits the amount of 401(k) that you can invest in the company. If memory serves me right, we are not allowed to invest more than 25% of our 401(k) in company stock. Might even be a lower %.

Oh, and now a bunch of the employees who lost everything because they put everything in Enron are suing Enron and want their money back. Unless they were illegally and fraudulantly advised to invest that way, tough shit.

[lewislynn]

The Bush people need to put this fire out immediately.

That will be hard to do.

[3AngelaD]

What Enron did to its employees and shareholders is immoral and scandalous -- and probably criminal. I wonder who else received support from the company besides the President, and would like to read more. But I am very leery of any news story that uses Rep. Waxman as a source. He, himself, is immoral and scandalous and shouldn't be casting any stones. He is a left-wing nut case on most issues, entirely without scruples. Who funds this Center for "Public Integrity" anyway? More info, please. AdR

[isthisnickcool]

The Dems. and their wonks have their talking point and it's Bush/Enron Enron/Bush. Paul Begala, Terry McCauliff, etc. are all chanting the new Enron/Bush mantra. The Dems. have nothing else. And this ain't much.

Well, at least Bush and Co. have not made it their goal to bankrupt "big tobacco", "big firearms", "big medicine", "big Microsoft", etc. As the Dems. have. And by doing so the Dems. actively try to put Americans out of their jobs. Heck, the Dems. should be happy, since Enron was in the energy business and so must have been part of "big oil". And they hate big oil.

The Dems. take in huge amounts of money from trial lawyers who take money right out of the public's pockets. Trial lawyers like John O'Quinn, etc. They shake down the companies mentioned above and then fund the Dems. But ABC does not say a thing about that. Pissants!

[Strider]

I've read that the books were not in good shape.

If they are going to start throwing blame around, I'd have have look at the auditors.

Public corporations must subimit independently audited financial statements to the SEC. This requirement grew out of the 1930's stock market crash, when companies regularly "cooked" the books. The false information that investors were relying on was a major factor in the stock market crash.

Either the audiors were very bad or they weren't very independent. By the way, "independent" auditors are paid by the company they are auditing.

I say investigate the company management and the auditors.

[LuvItOrLeaveIt]

This whole thing is starting to tick me off. The liberals hold all the sway in the media and their lying in an attempt to pin this on Bush.

Remember, these liars know the Nazi mantra of "tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth".

We need to nip these lies in the bud!

[WhiteGuy]

I just wonder how many incredible fortunes were made,

by those in a position to know,

by shorting Enron? Which family members benefited?

[gatex]

The New York Belfer family Enron stock was worth $2 billion and now worth little--"Belfer, 66, is an Enron director..."--- The Belfers....have also been big contributors to the Democratic causes and got caught in the Clinton fund-raising controversy.".

Maybe Rep.Waxman should comment on the Belfer family.

[Houston Chronicle, "Enron loyalty costs N.Y. family billions,-Director held on to stock to bitter end," by Leslie Eaton and Geraldine Fabrikant, New York Times , Sunday, Dec 8, 2001, page 2D]

[Saundra Duffy]

If Bush were in cahoots with Enron, then why did they have to file for bankruptcy? Why didn't the Bush Administration prevent that from happening? For victory & freedom!!!

[RooRoobird14]

Anyone who who put EVERYTHING they have in the world (their paycheck, their retirement pension, AND their 401k) into a single company is very, very foolish. It's too bad this man lost so much money, but he bears a portion of the responsibility for not diversifying his 401k in the first place.

[Jim Scott]

The Bush people need to put this fire out immediately.

Correct. The valid point that Enron's connections with the Bush family did it no good at all (bankruptcy) needs to be stated over and over on the TV news shows that seek to use this business failure as a lever to make Bush look bad, somehow, some way.

The Bush administration should not stand in the way of any Congressional investigation. To the general public, perception is everything and stonewalling or attempting to thwart investigations of Enron's financial dealings that caused the collapse simply look bad for Bush. Let it all hang out, but never stop pointing out that the 'connections' didn't pay off and there was no corruption going on between the Bush White House and Enron.