Enron Execs Made an End Run

Robert Scheer sheds some light on why George W. Bush is an Enron fan (Commentary, Dec. 25). It’s important that we recognize what was attractive to investors in the Enron scheme. As production pursues ever-lower wages around the world, it is inevitable that the ordinary citizen’s spending power must retract. The discretionary spending of ordinary people will produce meager profits in the new century. The basics--food, fuel, water and electric power--are the running shoes and the SUVs of the future. Find something people must have and position yourself to control the price of it. This is deregulation.

Enron--like the California deregulation caper--failed because those in the scheme showed their claws too quickly. They were supremely confident because they had taken the trouble to have their designs passed into law. Their overeagerness to collect was the result of having used other people’s money to finance the plan, having no way to pay these debts except through unsustainable prices and having no way to dodge the creditors except through bankruptcy. Those in the know sold their shares near the top and got out whole. Those whom they used were locked into their shares until the top men were clear.

The basics of the scheme are still intact. The generators still belong to the co-conspirators. Enron’s men still have the president’s full backing and control of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Key state and national legislators are in the scheme up to their armpits, with more signing up to fund their campaigns in the next election. Meanwhile, the contest returns to the legislative and legal venues while a way is found to assign the remaining debts to the ratepayers, who--disguised as taxpayers--will have to cough up every cent.

Jim Woolsey

Sierra Vista, Ariz.

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Scheer’s commentary trivializes the real issues, which are: What should be the goals of a stimulus program? And what kind of program would be most effective in achieving those goals?

The economy of the U.S. is not about Enron. In fact, it is both a testament and a cause of our economic strength that we are willing to let a company the size of Enron fail when it deserves to. Scheer equates the entire business community, including our millions of small businesses, with Enron and implies that the jobs lost in the recession are all due to “mismanagement and other acts of economic stupidity.” Scheer’s level of anger at the administration prevents him from using even a little bit of objectivity.

A real concern is that the Enron issue will be endlessly exploited in Congress and the media when there are much more vital issues that need our undivided attention.

Don Jortner

Rancho Palos Verdes

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Scheer’s essay is an intemperate mixture of hyperbole and innuendo that suggests a nefarious connection between Enron, its present and former executives and the energy policies of the Bush administration. The contributions of Enron to the Bush candidacy and the Enron holdings of administration figures have long been known. No evidence of any unethical or illegal conduct has been found. The connection Scheer tries to infer between Enron and the Argentine collapse is even more farfetched.

Scheer does not charge any Bush officials with violating the law to enrich the company in return for bribes. In fact, the exact opposite would seem to be true. Enron has not lately benefited from its financial contributions and its high-level access. Enron has just gone bankrupt. Hardly a successful outcome for a political-influence scheme. Scheer does not mention the donations given to the Democrats by Enron, which did result in our government intervening on Enron’s behalf for a power project in India. This was a concrete instance where a connection could be made between an Enron contribution and government action.

Ronald L. Winokur

Los Angeles

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If asked about the Enron debacle, you know Bush will get that “my dog ate my homework” look on his face and put the blame on someone else. Don’t we know we’re in a time of war? Be patriotic, don’t ask questions, trust me, etc. Meanwhile, the rich get considerably richer and the poor considerably poorer. Compassionate, my foot!

Jack Kenna

Whittier

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The bottom line is that there is no excuse for a business to overstate its net worth by hiding indebtedness, etc. Chief executive officers and chief financial officers are responsible and must be held accountable so that this does not happen. Stockholders should demand written pledges from these people that this will not happen, and that if a shortfall occurs because of this, these officers will be held personally and financially responsible to make up these shortfalls from their own assets. The responsibility must be placed where it belongs.

Maurice Benson

Covina