The line above is just one of those taglines used to catch the public's attention to Alex Gibney's riveting documentary film, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
Based on the best seller of the same title, which was authored by two of the most prolific reporters of Fortune, Peter Elkind and Bethany McLean, the documentary analyzes carefully the downfall of the Enron Corporation, the Texas energy corporation that was used to be the seventh largest in the country and described by seasoned producer and director Gibney as a “house of cards built over a pool of gasoline.”
Opening with the suicide of Cliff Baxter in January 2002, one of the corporation's executive, the film, as a careful scrutiny of real-time corruption in the business world gone horribly wrong, gave us a close look at an immoral and profit-oriented corporate culture and the problems that come along with it.
The movie held out two important factors in the company's collapse. The first is the implementation of "mark-to-market" accounting, a policy used by Enron's accountants (who by the way belong to the likewise collapsed Chicago-based Arthur Andersen accounting firm) to declare gains that never existed on the basis of the transactions that were supposed to generate them eventually.
Secondarily, it was the creation of numerous mythical companies by Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow to hide all their losses from the scrutiny of investors.
Though the topic at hand may be difficult to comprehend for some, Gibney made it quite easy to be understood by most people, and even entertaining, such that it was still a story of greed, pride, and arrogance as much as it was a corporate scandal.
Various "new documentary" practices of rock music, sudden cuts, professional graphics, and pop-culture references like "The Simpsons" and "It's a Wonderful Life" for better narration; a treasure chest of footages at Gibney's disposal, including news footages, e-mails, phone conversations, and interviews; and the charisma and understanding of the whistle-blower and other reliable sources close enough to the individuals at the forefront of this scandal made the documentary meaty and substantial.
At the eye of this corporate storm are two astounding characters: Enron President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Skilling (brother of the legendary WGN-Ch. 9 meteorologist Tom Skilling) and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Lay, the man nicknamed "Kenny Boy" by his bosom friend and political beneficiary, President George W. Bush.
While it was appalling enough to know that there was a complete absence of corporate moral fiber at the core of the company, it was even more disgusting to realize that this company has anything to do with the Clinton and Bush administrations (with more emphasis on the latter), both on a personal and professional level.
On a personal note, it was mentioned that Lay and Bush are buddies, such that Enron was the largest corporate contributor to George W. Bush's re-election campaign, with contributions of around US$ 57 million to political figures and three-fourths going to the Republican Party and Bush's presidential campaign. It came as no surprise then that the president kept mum about this issue.
On the other hand, Congressman Phil Gramm, believed to be the second largest receiver of campaign contributions, succeeded in passing a law on California's energy commodity trading deregulation in December 2000. This was done regardless of warnings from well-known consumer groups which asserted that this law would give energy traders like Enron too much power over energy commodity prices.
As reported by Public Citizen, "Because of Enron's new, unregulated power auction, the company's "Wholesale Services" revenues quadrupled - from $12 billion in the first quarter of 2000 to $48.4 billion in the first quarter of 2001."
Knowledge that Enron created the phony California energy crisis on purpose will surely anger anyone for there was never a shortage of power in California until the deregulation was started by an alleged Enron cohort. Using audio recordings of Enron traders on the phone with California power plants, we overheard them asking plant managers to "get a little creative" in shutting down plants for "repairs." Approximately 30-50 percent of California's energy industry was shut down by Enron for days on end, and up to 76 percent at one point, as the company pushed the price of electricity nine times higher than the usual.
Before the passage of the deregulation law, there had been only one so-called Stage 3 rolling blackout. However, following the passage, California residents experienced a total of 38 blackouts defined as Stage 3 rolling blackouts until federal regulators intervened in June 2001. These blackouts occurred largely as a result of the manipulation by traders and marketers as shown in the film. By holding back energy and shutting down generators, chaos broke in the market and energy prices soared higher on the west coast. Enron executives were in the middle of it all.
In terms of corporations, because of the Enron phenomenon, corporate collapses and scandals quickly extended beyond the company and all those previously associated with it. The indictment of Arthur Andersen on charges of obstruction of justice related to Enron for instance, helped in the exposé of accounting fraud at WorldCom. The ensuing bankruptcy of that telecommunications company started a wild fire of other accounting scandals, exposing high-level corruption, gleaming accounting errors, and insider trading. Though at the time of its collapse, Enron was the largest bankruptcy in history, this has been surpassed by the fallout of WorldCom.
In the film, we heard Enron insider traders make fun of "Grandma Millie," an imaginary victim of the rolling blackouts, and boast about the millions they made for the company. As the company became bigger though, 20,000 employees were fired. Their pensions were gone, their stock virtually worthless. Sadly, it was the ordinary people who were victimized. For example, a power company lineman in Portland, who did his job all his life, noticed that his retirement fund was worth $248,000 before Enron bought the utility and stole it, investing its retirement funds in Enron stock. Now, all that was left to him is about $1,200.
Perhaps , because for many Americans, the Enron scandal came in a series of fragmented pieces-an expose and prosecution here, an interview there, such that the totality of the scandal and its repercussions for the future of capitalism have simply been hazy until this film, there has not been much clamor over the Enron scandals. The cost was immeasurable though, not only in terms of lives lost during the power crisis, but in state finances. California sued for $6 billion in refunds for energy overcharges collected during the phony crisis.
The resulting crisis also contributed to Arnold Schwarzenegger's sudden rise to power as California governor when Gray Davis was voted out of office by angry and financially-affected citizens in a recall election.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is more than just a corporate scandal. It is the story of a government, several corporations, and our people.
