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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (74364)	12/4/2001 8:19:30 AM
From: John D. McClure	Respond to of 122087

Hi Anthony! What do you think of Dynegy in here? Decent short candidate or do you think they will dodge the bullet? Jed

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (74364)	12/4/2001 8:55:01 AM
From: CountofMoneyCristo	Respond to of 122087

washingtonpost.com Enron's Con Tuesday, December 4, 2001; Page A25 As usual, I was awakened by a sudden draft through the closed windows, saw the curtains ominously rustling and sensed instantly that someone was in my bedroom. Without even looking up I knew it had to be my grandfather, this long-dead immigrant of socialist leanings. I knew I was in for another of his wearying lectures with his tiresome references to "the working man." He was holding a newspaper. "This Enron," he said without so much as a greeting. "You know from it?" "Sure," I said. "The Houston-based conglomerate which just went bust. It was seventh on the Fortune 500, worth almost $50 billion. It sold everything. Electricity, natural gas -- even water." "It sold smoke," he yelled. "It sold the Brooklyn Bridge over and over again. It sold the uptown version of dream sheets and prayer handkerchiefs, only it used brokers and banks and not guys in fedoras and shiny suits. A bunch of con men." "Oh, no, grandpa," I said with weary resignation. "These were some of the most upstanding people in the land. The chairman, Kenneth Lay, is a friend of the president's. He's an innovator, a major success story. He was even considering writing a book telling how he did it all. It might have been as important a book as Jack Welch's or even Lee Iacocca's. Unfortunately, Enron misstated its profits . . ." "Misstated? Is this how you college people talk? They lied." "No, you don't understand. They set up partnerships and dealt in derivatives." "They lied. They said they made maybe half a billion more than they did. That's a lie. I was in business myself once. They 'misstated' what they made by $140 million one year and $250 million in another and then $140 million again in another year. This is a lot of misstating. This is what they really sold -- misstatements." "It's all very complicated," I explained. "But don't worry, the SEC is looking into it." "Don't tell me not to worry. I worry about the workers. These people had their money in the company's 401(k) plan. Their company was encouraging them to buy worthless stock -- $90 one day, zip the next. And when the stock started to fall, the company locked down the retirement so the workers couldn't sell. Now they have nothing. This company ripped off their own workers." "Yes," I agreed, "many of them lost all their savings. They're busted." "But not the big shots. This Lay character made more than $200 million. Others in the company made almost as much. Tell me, you think it's right that the big shots get to be rich while the workers get to go to some soup kitchen?" "You're talking class warfare." "I'm talking fairness. And anyway, how come it's class warfare when the rich are asked to give back what they steal? How come it's not called justice?" "It's the market system. There's always risk." "But not for the bosses, with their options and golden parachutes. The workers get a parachute that doesn't open." "The market will correct itself," I pointed out. "And what does your president say, this George Bush? Nothing! Not a word about these poor workers. And what about the Treasury secretary, this O'Neill character? Nothing! No indignation. No anger. Roosevelt would have said something. Truman would have screamed bloody murder. Even Teddy Roosevelt -- did you know I once met him? -- would have blasted them for stealing from their own people. But Bush . . .? Don't get me started." "Enron is in bankruptcy now. We call it Chapter 11. The creditors will be taken care of." "You can go from chapter one to chapter 11 and not find anything for the workers. Chase Bank will get something and Barclays Bank will get something and the lawyers will make out like bandits, but the workers, I'm telling you, are going to get nothing. They lost their jobs, they lost their savings, and some lawyer is going to give his wife a nice Packard car and a rock for his tootsie." "There's no Packard anymore." "There's no anger anymore, either. I want you should write something, Mister hot-shot columnist. I want you should say something about the workers." "Okay, let me talk to some experts." "You don't need experts. You only need to use your common sense. Use your heart. The bosses exploited the workers. Maybe they should be tried by military tribunal." "Now you've gone too far." "Okay. Maybe. Listen, I gotta go. Give my love to your mother. She'll be 90 in July. Don't forget." "Don't worry about . . ." I started to say. But then I felt a breeze from nowhere and my grandfather was gone. I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. I wonder how the Enron bosses can.