Posted on 10/23/2006 1:11:20 PM PDT by Lunatic Fringe
There's no speculation there that I can see. Enron employees were already getting the company match entirely in Enron stock. They had no choice about that.
Assuming most employees only contributed what the company did, they were already overly invested in one stock, i.e., 50% of the account was in Enron, which is ridiculously overconcentrated.
But many used their contributions to make that lack of diversification worse by using their contributions to buy even more Enron stock.
They did that either out of greed (Enron stock was appreciating dramatically as the chart on this thread shows) or they did it because Ken Lay and others in Enron management were encouraging that, and they didn't know any better.
However, it did violate the cardinal rule of investing large sums of money. Don't put it all in one particular investment.
There's nothing speculative about noting that.
I can tell you *exactly* what any possible mutual fund investments during that time would have been doing for them - losing them 6% per year, like mine did for 4 years = minus 25% of initial investment.
They believed the fraud and hype of their bosses, who were selling their own Enron stock while telling them to keep buying and drinking the Kool-Aid.
I'm glad I never liked that crew or I would've been right in the middle of all of it, like friends and acquaintances were. Ironically, I wound up the same way, but by a different path.
"sentenced to 24 years"
Reminds me of that game in Red Dwarf..."Better Than Life".
Yep, thousands of families affected. I don't know of any serial killers that received less than life after being convicted.
Except that he gets 6-8 more weeks to walk around and contemplate the universe, as he is wont to do.
I didn't even see his ankle bracelet when he spoke just now and walked around. Surely he has it on - they can't be trusting him to come back and have it fitted! Even Martha Stewart showed off her bracelet and where it was chafing her leg.
Egad, he is such pondscum. You should have heard his little pontificating speech to the media a while ago.
*All we needed was an A+ rating instead of a BB- and we'd have had the $2bn-3bn float we needed. That's all! We wouldn't even be here talking if the credit bankers had done it right. Yeah, broadband was a mistake on my part, but if we'd had that other $3 billion, that would've just been a blip.*
What the Enron executives didn't count on was that they would be exposed before they could fully cash out and that they would be held criminally liable for their actions in the same manner that a bank robber doesn't count on getting caught before they can get away with their money.
As was noted at NRO.com this afternoon, Lynne Stewart gets a slap on the wrist for aiding terrorists, Skilling gets 24 years. Disgraceful!
I guess that's the difference between a Reagan appointee and a Carter appointee.
Vote!!
I did. Today. By absentee ballot. :)
No, Skilling did not kill anyone, but his fraudulence permanently affected and broke the lives of many both young and old. The lives of many retirees were destroyed without the possibility of rebuilding. Skilling is one of the few crooks who received what was coming to him.
I disagree. Ruining thousands and thousands of lives is worse than murdering one person.
I can't criticize you, then, since I haven't voted yet. I'll do it on the way home from work tomorrow.
Goodbye and good riddance.
That is 24 years PLUS what is basically, 45 million dollar fine.
Excessive to say the least.
I agree.
OK, well-said.
They should not have had all their eggs in one basket and they should have bailed out before the bottom dropped out.
I think sentences should be proportionate to the crime and financial criminals should not receive harsher sentences than murderers and treason.
Not to mention, murder is a state crime and lack of funding sometimes means the release of a murderer well before their sentence is served. That doesn't happen as much in the federal system. Skilling will probably serve at least 15 years before any chance of parole.
...and giving 20 million to his defense team.
I won't even begin to give you my opinion of lawyers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.