Enron and the Genius of Capitalism

©2002 Ted Rall, Universal Press Syndicate

I want to assure you that I have never felt better about the prospects for the company.
― Enron CEO Ken Lay email to Enron employees worldwide, August 14, 2001

Enron used its political clout to create what one of its own executives called a "regulatory black hole" in which it could operate freely.
― Paul Krugman, The New York Times, December 11, 2001

Companies come and go. It's part of the genius of capitalism.
― Paul O'Neill, Treasury secretary, on the collapse of Enron, January 18, 2002

The feeding frenzy is pretty much over.
— Senator Phil Gramm, Republican - Texas, on the defeat of new controls on corporate and accounting conduct, June 10, 2002. Gramm's wife, Wendy, resigned from Enron's board last week.

Jefferson on a Living Constitution

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regiment of their barbarous ancestors.
― Thomas Jefferson, as inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial

Though I have many reservations about Thomas Jefferson, I much prefer his 18th-century view of constitutional interpretation to that with which Justice Scalia would like to saddle us in the 21st.
― Roger Wilkins, professor of history at George Mason University