It was bound to happen. Anytime a scoundrel takes a sucker for everything he’s got, someone will eventually blame the sucker. Afterall, he shouldn’t have been a sucker in the first place.
So what about the victims that suffered at the hands of the above mentioned individuals when they lost their life savings, jobs, pensions etc.? I am sorry – but if someone had their life savings in one and only one stock, I would question their sanity. In fact, retirement money, pensions and other such assets should always remain in diversified funds. Pleading ignorance to this rule of thumb is like the smoker who pleads ignorance to the warning printed on the carton. So honestly, those who lost their livelihood due to the shenanigans at Enron really can’t blame anyone but themselves for not being careful with their own money. They put their eggs in one basket – their job, retirement savings and their future and now they want someone to pay for their own mistakes.
This reminds us of the con-man’s justification of his trade–”You can’t cheat an honest man.” Or, in the words of Mike Skinner (aka “The Streets”), “Using the following, I’m going to show you: A) How to con someone using their own greed, B) That you won’t feel bad ‘cos they’re trying to con you anyway, and C) TAKING THEIR MONEY!”
So, see, you don’t have to feel bad for the Enron investors. They deserved to have their savings wiped out by crooks because they were stupid and greedy. The stupid and greed deserve what they get. The smart and greedy, well, that’s another story. We guess that’s how it works.
My Opinion on the Enron Folly [Stocks Advice by StocksandBlogs.com]
wasn’t one of the outcomes of the enron scandal the realization that company 401-k match using company stock only is a financially unsound idea?
the company i work for went sort of private after enron, but before, 401-k match was in company stock only. so blaming employees that at least 6+% of their life savings went away is cold and perhaps revisionist history.
You just quoted a white British rapper. Just wanted to point out that your chav is showing.
Anyone who keeps 100% of their retirement assets in ANY one stock is a moron, and shouldn’t be surprised that it goes down one day – Bessie Steel, TWA, GM’s not looking too hot, any tech stock post 2000, et al too numerous to name.
Would we feel bad for them if ENE went from 80 to 5 but did NOT go busto? And there was no fraud? Nope. What if it went from 80 to 0.80 but was on the level? Nope.
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Seems simple enough.
Secondly, even if company match is in stock, you can almost always sell and rebalance. But even if you couldn’t, and 25% of your 401k was in ENE, then 75% should have been in diversified assets. They didn’t complain when it went from 8 to 80, so act the same way when it drops. It didn’t drop 80 points overnite.