Consumers are too stupid to make good choices

[kandrathe]

What I was talking about is what happens when a CEO screws up royally say out of stupid greed. A company worth a billion or so and employing 10,000 people, are exactly the reasons why I think serious legal responsibilities for these captains of industry, and the industry itself is a good idea. To me Enron is not just about accounting problems, it's also about an accountability problem.

If I get caught with my hand in the cookie jar, I don't expect ice cream for punishment. I'm not talking about a case where I accidentally knocked over the jar due to butterfingers. Both are damaging, but one is done with intent and to me, erodes more confidence in the system.

Arther Anderson went belly up due to the accounting fraud, and most of the top executives (Skilling, Fastow, Lay) were convicted and are serving time (except Lay because he died). It seems the legal system worked. I'm not sure you can have the government insure to remove all the risks of carnage to pensions, stock losses, and people temporarily unemployed. Risk is an inherent part of the reward that a capitalist system provides, to owners, investors, and even workers. There is always the risks that you are being lied to by an unscrupulous person, even when to do so is fraud and against the law. We mostly get justice, but seldom satisfaction.