Sunday Night Enron Empathy post

Bonnie Behrend, a former CNBC anchor who lives in Aspen, arrived at the church to pay her respects but was turned away by security guards.

"I know a lot of people say he's one of the worst criminals on the planet, but he's still a father. He's still a grandfather," she said. "Regardless of what happened, what he did or didn't do, he's still a human being and a Christian."

Uh, Bonnie. Wasn't it your job once to ask him the hard questions without giving quarter? I mean, who the heck cares how nice he was to his family when he ruined thousands of families in Texas and elsewhere?

You must accept that Lay was responsible as CEO; if he wasn't, then he wasn't in charge. If he was in charge, then he was culpable.

Bonnie, Ken Lay presided over the ruin of thousands of peoples' 401k, ESPP, and other investment accounts.

Being a Christian does not make you infallible, only forgiven. That's what I was taught, and I'll bet it's what you were taught, too, Bonnie.

Being a sinner doesn't even make you average. It makes you a sinner. Last time I checked, Jesus wasn't a mogul or a CEO, and he really didn't seem to like those kind of people very much, no matter what they said. See also: The Beatitudes.

Just like Ralph Derrickson and "Tiny" Tim Dreisbach, Ken Lay was not qualified or ready for his job; he was merely elevated to a place where he had wildly exceeded the Peter Principle. Shareholders should have revoked his pay, benefits, and payoffs well before Enron hit the shitter.

(I liked the part where Ralph Derrickson told his employees to "work smarter, not harder" and a week later told them all they'd have to take a week's severance whether they'd worked fifteen years or two weeks.)

Yeah, you bet I'm still angry about the way Metricom went under - and in no small part because it was much like Enron in it's inflated self-worth and exaggerated capitol potential. Not since the Macintosh have marketing people screwed up a product so well-suited to it's market. Not since the Space Shuttle has something been so over designed and proprietary. Not since Rome has any ruler been so isolated from the truth.

Thanks to SOX, we'll have, like, a week's warning next time.