Finally, an Enron book that actually explains what happened at Enron. Bryce, an Austin, Tex., journalist familiar with the energy and telecommunications industries, offers a colorful account of the most spectacular corporate self-destruction in American history. Tracing the company's history, he shows how deal-focused executives like CEO Jeff Skilling transformed a fiscally responsible energy supplier into an out-of-control trading firm. He describes risky practices, like "mark-to-market" accounting and shell corporations, in clear, concise language that doesn't confuse readers who don't have MBAs. The book relies heavily on good ol' boy colloquialisms (e.g., "If [George W.] Bush had been any more simpatico to Enron, he could've been charged with a misdemeanor under the state of Texas' buggery laws") but backs up every unusual assertion, revealing, for example, connections between Bush and Enron going back to the mid-1980s. Not that Democrats were innocent; there's also extensive coverage on what Enron got from government agencies during the Clinton administration. While the emphasis on sexual misconduct among the top brass and its correlation to the financial shenanigans is arguable, Bryce makes a reasonable case for former chairman Ken Lay's unwillingness to control his staff's behavior-and inability to lead by example. This isn't just the first book to make sense out of the debacle; it's a vivid cautionary tale about the consequences of the lurid excesses-personal and professional-of the recently ended economic bubble, where corporations and their employees were so obsessed with acquiring wealth they became "dumber than a box of hammers" about making-and saving-money. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
作者简介:
Over the past sixteen years,Robert Bryce has written for a panoply 0f now-dead publica-tions including TaIk magazine and the TuIsa 7-ribufle.He’S even written for a few stilI publishing,including The New York times,The Guardian,Austin Chronicle,and Texas Observer.Bryce has been writing about En ron’S political activities since 1997 and covered the firm'S felecommunications and e-commerce ventu res th roughout 2001.
Despite yea rs 0f muckraking,he has won no awards worth mentioning.An apia rist.he lives in Austin with his wife,three child ren,and a hyperactive bi rd dog rlamed Biscuit.
【目录】
Author's Note
Introduction by Molly Ivins
1 The Job Fair
2 John Henry Kirby and the Roots of Enron
3 Buy or Be Bought
4 The Merger
5 The Lays Move to River Oaks
6 The Valhalla Fiasco
7 "The Smartest Son of a Bitch I've Ever Met"
8 Banking on the Gas Bank
9 Mark-to-Market Account-a-Rama
10 Enron Goes International: Teesside
11 The Big Shot Buying Binge
12 "Kenny Boy"
13 The Dabhol Debacle
14 OPIC: Sweet Subsidies
15 A Kinder, Gentler Enron
16 The Reign of Skilling
17 "A Pit of Vipers"
18 Cash Flow Problems, Part1
19 Chewco: The 3-Percent Solution
20 Sexcapades
21 The Family Lay
22 LJM1
23 Buying Off the Board
24 The Deal Diva
25 Enron's Waterworld
26 Hyping the Bandwidth Bubble
27 Andy Fastow Arrives... in River Oaks
28 Strippers and Stock Options
29 Casino Enron: Cash Flow Problems, Part 2
30 LJM2
31 The Big Five Versus the SEC
32 Derivatives Hocus-Pocus
33 Ken Rice: Missing in Action
34 Analysts Who Think
35 Air Enron
36 Skilling Says a Bad Word
37 George W. to the Rescue, Part1
38 Broadband Blues
39 Sleepless in Houston: Cash Flow Problems, Part 3
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