Enron CEO Skilling gets 24 years

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his part in the Enron scandel. The Scandel has become a symbol of corporate fraud in America. Skilling, who also faces more than $18 million in fines for his crimes, continues to insist he is innocent of all charges. While some feel betrayed by Skilling and Enron management, others chose not to vilify him.



So what's my take on all this? Symbolically it's quite powerful. Many people feel that large corporations are untouchable and financial gorillas such as Skilling are above the law. The average citizen can now rest easy knowing the big fish get caught too.

Victims of the scandal are also resting easy after Skilling was handed his sentence. The majority of them feel betrayed by a company they worked very hard for. I can hardly blame them for that. Skilling's own great wealth protected him from the bankruptcy, while employees of more ordinary wealth were not so lucky. We claim to a country of morality right? Where is the morality in an individual using our great country to attain ultra-wealth, while turning his back on the people who helped him build his empire?

Still, some scandal victims place the blame on themselves for failing to diversify their assets. This is known as taking responsibility, another concept (like morality) which seems to be at an all time low in today's world. I think ordinary folks and CEOs learned a valuable lesson today!

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As well he should.

It would be nice to get the $70 billion Enron bilked CA energy consumers out of back, too. Too bad all the records of that went down with the WTC 7 implosion, I mean collapse.

I wonder how much of that $70 billion went to getting and keeping this administration in power? Enron and Lay and Skilling were heavy contributors, with close ties to the Bush campaign. Nobody seems to remember or want to talk about that, though.

The whole rolling blackout, energy contract fiasco was the driving force behind getting Gov. Davis recalled and Arnie elected, that's for sure.

[edit on 23-10-2006 by Icarus Rising]

Originally posted by Scramjet76
Still, some scandal victims place the blame on themselves for failing to diversify their assets. This is known as taking responsibility, another concept (like morality) which seems to be at an all time low in today's world. I think ordinary folks and CEOs learned a valuable lesson today!

Yes, CEO and other Corporate Officers learned a valuable lesson from all this ...

... the American worker is gullible and will believe pretty much anything you tell them, and when the crappola hits the fan, the workers will be stupid enough to take the blame. Western Airlines employees thought they were getting a good amount of money for their WAL Stocks when Delta talked about buying them out (1987). The price just kept getting lower and lower and lower till it was pretty much nothing at all. Of course now Delta Airlines Management is willing to enter Bankruptcy so that they can do away with more worker pensions and benefits while they retain full muti-million dollar salaries and a full table of perks.

Should just shoot the bastards when they pull this crap, not that I am advocating a crime, but then in many countries around the world this would be considered an honorable course of action.

I would've put him back to work earning the millions he bilked for the same people. That is an honorable course as well.

They say "golden parachutes" are needed to ensure a high level of competition for company execs. I understand that logic completely but I think they've gone overboard.

Take American Airlines. While preparing to make a rough landing in bankruptcy court, executives at the dead broke carrier extracted from workers $1.62 billion in wage and benefit concessions the bosses claimed were needed to keep American aloft. At the same time, the execs secretly safeguarded themselves with a glittering array of golden parachutes, including massive cash bonuses and a $41-million trust fund to guarantee their pensions should the airline crash and burn.

www.commondreams.org...

I will bet cash on the barrelhead

That GWBush will give him a Presidential Pardon as GWBush's going away gift.