http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/29/business/enron-s-collapse-the-overview-enron-collapses-as-suitor-cancels-plans-for-merger.html
The first article I researched was awesome. It was about the deal Enron was trying to make with Dynegy to sell its company. It’s a good thing that Dynegy did its research on Enron and found out about all the debt Enron was in and how they did not have as many assets as they stated they did. I think Enron was grasping at straws trying to figure out a way to come out ahead in this scheme. Fortunately, the deal fell through and Enron ultimately collapsed and it turned out to be one of the largest companies in history to file bankruptcy. Because of Enron’s collapse, Enron’s shares crashed from selling at $91 dollars a share to a whopping .61 cents per share. That must have devastated thousands of investors and stock holders. Something that I really find interesting is the fact that Enron was one of President Bush’s main backers in his run for presidency and the fact that he had so much invested in Enron. Is that why we had the bail out of the banks? I know the bailout happened when the housing crisis happened but it makes me wonder if it had to do with the affiliation of Bush and Enron.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2013/05/14/enron-ethics-and-todays-corporate-values/
This article was great, although it did not talk about the fraud that took place at Enron, it did talk about how good ethical behavior is crucial in a company. I do believe this is very true. I know and believe that one’s ethical behavior does stem from what is taught in one’s childhood and follows them into adulthood and ultimately into their jobs. I believe that Ken Lay, since he did start with a humble beginning started off as an honest businessman but just like all the other companies we have studied, greed always seems to get the best of these executives. It is very sad and unfortunate that there will always be this type of behavior that takes place when there is big money to be made. This article discussed how people with seemingly good ethics can easily get lost in company dealings and I get that, but I honestly think that if I was put in such a position, I would be the whistleblower every time. I would carry so much guilt inside knowing that the end results would hurt many people. I am glad that since the collapse of Enron the SEC and other government agencies have put new laws into place so that this may defer future companies from committing these crimes but no matter what, there will always be fraud and Enron is unfortunately not the last scandal we will see.

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-12-16/the-fall-of-enron

The first thing in this article that really stood out to me was how they said Enron’s complex strategy for making their rich profits and returns were from a trading and risk-management built on assets owned by others. Wow this is so mind boggling for me. I understand how they were able to set up the Special Purpose Entities that the SEC approved of, but what I do not understand is how they could approve these. Couldn’t they see that they were using these SPE’s to hide the bad debt that Enron had? It was surprising to me reading about Enron’s CEO Jeffery Skilling’s schooling and earlier business when working with the bank that went belly-up. He contended that he would keep strict risk controls on Enron’s trading business after experiencing what he had with the bank. I feel somewhat sorry Skilling because I feel he did not like what was going on at Enron but being in the high ranking position he was in, he must have felt he had no choice to go along with the fraud. It seems to me like he had high hopes for Enron and hired many with MBA’s from the top business schools. When he resigned from Enron, I think he had had enough of the shannagans that were taking place. Is he guilty? Sure he is, but guilty with a lot of remorse. I think it was Enron’s CFO Andy Fastow who was to