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Bush had better be a terrific politician to dig out from under this mess. I would imagine we will now lose the House as well as the Senate. The Democrats will hang this around his neck just like Watergate. After this has played out there had better be some top execs who are trotted off in their orange jump suits. There can be no rational defense for this behavior and no stonewalling. Bush needs to get all the bad news out immediately; not later.

All I can gather is that Bush was a friend. Enron called for a little help and the Fed said no after comparing their situation with another similiar situation. Sadly, the common sheep will just hear what the vocal Dems will say. If the Repubs can open their mouth and pass it off as a sad attempt to hurt W equally as loud as the Dems will shout, then we shouldnt be hurt at all. Couple this with their stupid tax attack people will hopefully see them as reachers. Trying to use anything to spoil Bush's popularity.

Bush had better be a terrific politician to dig out from under this mess. I would imagine we will now lose the House as well as the Senate. The Democrats will hang this around his neck just like Watergate. There can be no rational defense for this behavior and no stonewalling. Bush needs to get all the bad news out immediately; not later. Last time I checked Bush didn't work for Enron, nor make any decisions for them.

Not mentioned in the WSJ or elsewhere is actually when, how and why they lost a lot of money. To be sure, we know they could not service their debt. Until this is answered the whole imboglio is nothing but whistling in the wind.

A big alleged expose is the destruction of records. My guess is they destroyed everything not directly a work product relating to their final audit. This is custumary. Most public corporation audits have the additional onus of always bullet proofing their audit from future, frivolous litigation by money mad trial lawyers. I would hope a public auditor reads this post and addressses this issue.

Finally, as one of the biggest energy players Enron was worthy of notice --even by a "rat" administration. The fact they called the Treasury and others is anticipated in such a dire, financial circumstance.

As an addendum, I tried to make some money off of Calpine (CPN). When it lost 20%, I bailed. The whole issue with the big futures players are derivatives. The real scandal some day is going to be JP Morgan Chase. They have 17 trillion (yes trillion) of financial derivatives supported by 40 billion of unencumbered stockholder equity - over a 700 to one ratio! They are highly profitable, but could be decimated by increasing volatility in interest rate futures. The point is, the people running these highly leveraged financial conglomerates are risk takers and the usual investor is looking at p/e's and pro forma earnings. When the axe falls, everyone is shocked and immediately convinced a bad business decision and model have failed; hence, they look to the congress to criminalize a bad business decision.

>Bush had better be a terrific politician to dig out from under this mess.

Is this really a big issue?! What the heck. The Feds bailed out Chrysler.

It seems to me that in this day and age -- as much as I dislike it being this way -- corporations, especially giant corporations, have investments from millions of citizens and, when a big corporation fails, it is not just a business event, it's also a political event.

So these business losers went to the Feds for help? Big deal. Chrysler went to the Feds for help, too.

At least Bush told them to piss off and didn't throw any more of our money their way...

Mark W.

"Enron's Lay Sought Cabinet Officials' Help; Ashcroft Recuses Himself From Investigation"

Didn't get any. What worked with the Clinton Administration did not work with the Bush Administration. The investigation should be into the Clinton Administration's influence peddling. Enron GOT the India deal after paying for that President's ear.