The Enron scandal: what is really going on? There are so many different angles to this muddled mess of an energy-trading corporation that it is difficult to sort it all out. From what I can tell, the collapse of the country?s seventh largest company has three major elements.

First, we heard about their stock going down, and how 62 percent of Enron employees had their pensions in Enron stock. Since Enron stock had been doing phenomenally well, it made sense when the company encouraged employees to invest in it. Apparently, Enron knew that it wasn?t doing as well as they were saying, hiding debts in the far reaches of their complex accounting system.

So when it all came down, thousands of Enron employees realized they had been hoodwinked and subsequently lost all of their retirement funds.

What a bummer! I suck at financial matters, but even I know that diversification of stocks when investing is essential. Unfortunately, those employees didn?t have to invest in Enron?s stock, and they didn?t have to lose all their savings. As for the rest of the country who lost thousands due to lying financial reports, well, I?m sorry.Secondly, we have the political scandal. Basically, in order to secure its financial future (albeit a future for only a few Enron employees), Enron gave lots of money to both Democrats and Republicans. That is nothing new, right? But our President and the head of Enron, Kenneth Lay, are old buddies from their Texas days. Lay actually gave George W. Bush his corporate jet, so Bush could fly around America campaigning. Also, when Bush needed help in the White House, Lay interviewed those who would serve on the Energy Department, the department that is supposed to regulate energy companies, making sure they don?t rip off the public. Ha! Smart move, Lay! Bush also needed a chief economic adviser, a treasury secretary, a secretary of the army and a federal trade representative, so Bush (or was it Lay?) appointed to all those positions, ? you guessed it ? former Enron staff.

The New York Times last May was so concerned about how Lay had run the White House that they referred to Lay as the “shadow adviser to the president.” And sadly, this is after Bush stated that he was “going to restore dignity to the White House, the people?s house.” What, the people of Enron and other corporate giants?

Now one of the major problems with Enron living in our “people?s house” is that regulations are put away, ignored or simply written out of existence. Basically, the government loses power over its corporations. Since Lay was the power man, he made sure that he was exempt from numerous regulations and would not be liable for any “funny bookkeeping.” He also drafted, with Bush, the country?s new “energy policy,” which helped Californians lose their power. Bush is busted; this is why Bush doesn?t want to reveal his secret meetings with Lay.

OK, so this is the clincher for Californians. Have you noticed that we are not in an energy crisis anymore? Did new power plants magically appear in five months? Then where did that “crisis” come from? Well, Senator Joe Dunn, who sits on the Senate Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation in the Wholesale Energy Market, thinks that Enron and other energy trading companies may be involved. In fact, the committee feels so strongly about the company?s involvement, that they are seeking criminal charges against Enron for concealing evidence and conspiracy. The committee had already been suspicious of Enron last June, and asked for thousands of documents relating to our “energy crisis.” Of course, Enron didn?t respond. And now that Enron and Anderson, its accounting firm, have admitted to destroying documents, we may never know to what extent our “energy crisis” was simply an “Enron crisis.”

Is George Bush fueling the corporate machine? Tell Samantha Hinrichs why or why not at [email protected].