Collapse of Enron

Paper Summary:

Until the fortunes of Enron Corporation began to unravel in 2001, the U.S. energy giant was termed as America's "most innovative company" by the Fortune magazine for six straight years. When Enron filed for bankruptcy in December 2001, it shocked the global financial world and became one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history. The event badly shook investor confidence, accelerated the southern journey of the U.S. stock market, raised serious questions about the increasing corporate influence in governmental circles and forced new legislation about greater government regulation of businesses and their financial reporting. Debate still rages among experts and the general public alike whether the event was the result of unrestrained capitalism or simply a "part of the genius of capitalism." Apart from giving a brief background of the Enron scandal, this paper focuses on the question whether the Enron bankruptcy shows the danger of unrestrained capitalism. While agreeing with the contention, the paper also examines some of the counter explanations to look at the other side of the picture.

From the Paper:

"According to a suit filed by Enron's shareholders in April 2002, senior bank officers from institutions such as Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse First Boston, and others created enormous, illicit profits from their collaboration with Enron. The profits were allegedly made not just for the institutions and banks, but for senior banking executives themselves who made large personal fortunes themselves. This explains why some of the smartest financiers in America failed to blow the whistle while Enron was committing financial irregularities galore."

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