What is the story of Enron? What Enron represents in USA and how was Bush connected to Enron?

Question

And why USA country (Bush) allowed Enron to manipulate California with energy power and prices of energy?

Shofix: I already read details on Enron on Wikipedia and I saw a documentary movie yesterday, but I would like to hear your opinion about that?

Answer 1

First, here's a wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron

Enron was an energy and pipeline company that began energy trading. It was later found that they manipulated these energy markets, but that wasn't the main reason for their decline.

What killed them was that they set up a series of shell-companies that they used to hide debts and liabilities off the books, so their finaincial statements looked much better than they were. By the nature of the way they were set up, as long as their equity value kept increasing, there was sufficient cover to keep anyone from noticing the shell-companies. However, when accounting irregularities were revealed, their share price dropped and the full weight of their fraud became apparent.

Making things worse, as the stock continued to drop, management locked employee-purchased shares so that employees couldn't sell - at the same time upper management dumped their shares.

Enron was big, but not GE, Microsoft, Exxon or Citibank big, it was maybe in the largest 250 US companies. Most people had never heard of it. Now it represent s the pinnacle of corporate malfeasance, bad management (the corporate culture was horrible) and a lack of ethics. It also set off a chain of fraud investigations in the US - WorldCom, Adelphia, and Tyco were hit in short order afterwards.

Enron was one of Bush's (and the Republican Party's) biggest contributors up to and including the 2000 election.

For your edit: We didn't "allow" them to manipulate the CA energy market. Our fun market based economy is premised on companies staying within ethical and legal boundaries. Regulation gets in corporate america's way, so we basically took their word for it. They did somethiing illegal and before they were caught they were bannkrupt. It wasn't just them either, most CA energy companies had to settle similar cases.

Answer 2

Careful you are going to get a lot of conspiracy theory and ideology with a question like that.

But the truth is more simple. Enron lied about financial earnings driving the stock price up, then they went bankrupt after their accounting firm Aurther Anderson got caught.

Enron was the largest energy company in America at the time and many politicians including Bush owned stock in Enron. Enron is also located in Texas where Bush was the Gov.

That is where it ends.

The rest is just superstition and conjecture.

Answer 3

It is a long story,

but the shortest is this.

Eron is an oil company that did great.
Until it started investing and providing other services than just oil
it started to hide losses, it fixed the numbers so investors would keep buy, even though the company was in trouble.
Ken lay met with Vice President Cheney to create the U.S engery policy and plans behind closed doors, this included control of Iraqi oil.
Ken Lay and Enron then cheated Califorinia and hence Grey Davis lost hsi office......



More fun reading.
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Lay, who President Bush affectionately referred to as "Kenny-boy" when the two forged an alliance in the 1990s to advance Bush's political ambitions and Lay's business prospects, contributed $122,500 to Bush's gubernatorial campaigns in Texas. Lay would later explain to a PBS "Frontline" interviewer that, though he had worked closely with former Texas Governor Ann Richards, the Democrat incumbent who Bush challenged in 1994, he backed the Republican because "I was very close to George W."

Needless to say, once Bush became governor, Lay got his phone calls returned. A report issued by Public Citizen in February, 2001, months before the Enron scandal broke, identified Lay as "a long-time Bush family friend and an architect of Bush's policies on electricity deregulation, taxes and tort reform while Bush was Texas governor."

No wonder Lay had Enron give $50,000 to pay for Bush's second inaugural party in Austin in 1999 -- a showcase event that was organized by Karl Rove and others to help the Texas governor step onto the national political stage.

After Bush gave Enron exactly what it wanted in 1999, by signing legislation that deregulated the state's electrical markets, Lay knew he had found his candidate for president.

When Bush opened his campaign, Lay opened the cash spigots.

Answer 4

Enron and ken Lay were both among Bush's and the Republican party's biggest donors... No business connection, though...

Also Bush and Ken Lay were good friends (Bush called him 'Kenny Boy')...

If you want the full story of Enron, check out the Wikipedia article...

Answer 5

Houston , Enrons home, is controlled by Democrats.

Answer 6

bush was not connected to Enron. stop trying to blame him for everything.