Movie Friday

Guess what? It rained again tonight in the Bay Area. Somebody make it stop...PLEASE.

My movie pick this week is a documentary that recently came out on DVD. It is entitled Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. It is based upon a book of the same name that was written by two Fortune writers.

The documentary details the rise and fall of Enron, the biggest corporate scandal of our time. I sat through most of this film nauseous and in utter disbelief at the degree of arrogance of this corporation. Through political connections and forged accounting, they swindled the state of California and many other clients out of billions of dollars. The fall of their corporation also led to the fall of the famed accounting firm of Arthur Andersen. When the company collapsed, the majority of their employees lost all of their savings for retirement as their holdings were mostly invested in Enron stock. The documentary draws you in through excellent use of telephone conversations, written statements, interviews, and internal and external company videos. There is a classic clip of George W Bush wishing Kenny Boy (Chairman Kenneth Lay, an old Bush crony) a Happy Birthday. Yet another open mouth, insert foot moment for GW. (Can anyone say Brownie?)

The saddest part of this documentary for me was to see the complete and utter greed of corporate management with no thoughts or concerns for the employees of the company. At the same time, Enron was largely responsible for Gray Davis being recalled as governor of California due to the illegal manipulation of the energy markets in the early part of this decade. As the company collapsed, the executives kept up the deception to the end dooming the shareholders of the company. As a wounded veteran of the airline industry, my wounds are still healing and watching this film was such like throwing salt back on them. Corporate greed cannot continue to be rewarded in this country. It is my fervent hope that the men responsible for this ridiculous scam be thrown in jail for life without parole. It's the least they could do for ruining thousands of people's lives while living in the most luxurious and opulent accommodations. Let them eat cake indeed...

That being said, see the documentary. It's a great film and I hope it provokes as strong a reaction in all of you as it did in me.

Have a great weekend. Cuidate.