29 min
The 2003 California Recall - PART I: The ENRON States of America Year 2000 Fix
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- Society & Culture
ENRON: the energy and commodities company that proves that when you have enough money, power, influence, and sheer cockiness, you’re free to destroy the career of a state’s governor and install a cheesy action movie-star to succeed them. That sentence sounds ridiculous and yet, ENRON is a big reason Arnold Schwarzenegger took hold of California!
In this three-part series covering the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall, Jordan starts with something of a “villain backstory” and fulfills a lifelong goal of understanding what in the hell the ENRON scandal even was! Here, you will learn how ENRON’s Chairman/CEO Ken Lay and CEO/COO Jeffrey Skilling thrived in the deregulated energy market of the 90s & 2000s and how the company’s execs almost got away with all their crimes. You’ll also learn why, despite what the administration of President George W. Bush said, ENRON’s business scandal was ALSO an unexplored political scandal.
Stay tuned for Part II, where Jordan will go over ENRON’s special relationship to California, and Part III, where Jordan will go over Arnold’s “machine-like” rise to governership.
Message YEAR 2000 FIX on Anchor here!
SELECTED WORKS CITED:
Info on the 2005 Documentary ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM – a vital source for everything I say here. I wish I had a voice as smooth as Peter Coyote’s!
The You’re Wrong About podcast episode on ENRON. *I credit this episode for educating me on the whole “there was barely a whistleblower” angle to the scandal.*
Anderson Advisors on Mark to Market Accounting
NBC NEWS on Sherron Watkins the “Whistleblower”
Bethany McClean’s original FORTUNE article on ENRON
20/20 Hindsight from Bethany McClean and Others - 2002
John Olson takes on ENRON Pre-Scandal
George W. Bush and ENRON. See more here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And nope, not done. Does Bush ever stop? OK, one more.
ENRON: the energy and commodities company that proves that when you have enough money, power, influence, and sheer cockiness, you’re free to destroy the career of a state’s governor and install a cheesy action movie-star to succeed them. That sentence sounds ridiculous and yet, ENRON is a big reason Arnold Schwarzenegger took hold of California!
In this three-part series covering the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall, Jordan starts with something of a “villain backstory” and fulfills a lifelong goal of understanding what in the hell the ENRON scandal even was! Here, you will learn how ENRON’s Chairman/CEO Ken Lay and CEO/COO Jeffrey Skilling thrived in the deregulated energy market of the 90s & 2000s and how the company’s execs almost got away with all their crimes. You’ll also learn why, despite what the administration of President George W. Bush said, ENRON’s business scandal was ALSO an unexplored political scandal.
Stay tuned for Part II, where Jordan will go over ENRON’s special relationship to California, and Part III, where Jordan will go over Arnold’s “machine-like” rise to governership.
Message YEAR 2000 FIX on Anchor here!
SELECTED WORKS CITED:
Info on the 2005 Documentary ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM – a vital source for everything I say here. I wish I had a voice as smooth as Peter Coyote’s!
The You’re Wrong About podcast episode on ENRON. *I credit this episode for educating me on the whole “there was barely a whistleblower” angle to the scandal.*
Anderson Advisors on Mark to Market Accounting
NBC NEWS on Sherron Watkins the “Whistleblower”
Bethany McClean’s original FORTUNE article on ENRON
20/20 Hindsight from Bethany McClean and Others - 2002
John Olson takes on ENRON Pre-Scandal
George W. Bush and ENRON. See more here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And nope, not done. Does Bush ever stop? OK, one more.
29 min