culture, politics, commentary, criticism

Friday, March 03, 2006
Privatizing risk. The CEOs keep all the money — the employees keep all the risk (Mary Flood,
Houston Chronicle):
...the jury heard from a former Enron employee who lost his retirement savings when the company collapsed.

John Sides, 52, a 22-year veteran of Enron, said he trusted Lay's promises enough to make investments based on them. On questioning from prosecutor Robb Adkins, Sides told the jury "I relied on Ken Lay."

Sides said he has since thrown out all his retirement documents "because they were too depressing."

The jury never heard how much Sides lost because Lay's lawyers requested that details about employees' losses be banned from the trial because they are too prejudicial. Lake ruled these details could not be presented in evidence.

But it has been reported that Sides, of Houston, saw his 401(k) worth about $500,000 dwindle to $4,000 when the company collapsed.
John Sides relied on Ken Lay enough to see a 99% loss on his savings. And yet we're supposed to feel sorry for Ken Lay, who has an alleged net worth of $650,000?

That, of course, doesn't factor in the value of his variable annuities which are protected from bankruptcy proceedings. Ken and Linda Lay will be expected to scrape by on the income from those investments, which will be a meager $912,000 per year for life, starting in 2007.

Awwwww....
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Greatest Hits · Alternatives to First Command Financial Planning · First Command, last resort, Part 3 · Part 2 · Part 1 · Stealing $50K from a widow: Wells Real Estate · Leo Wells, REITs and divine wealth · Sex-crazed Red State teenagers · What I hate: a manifesto · Spawn of Darleen Druyun · All-American high school sex party · Why is Ken Lay smiling? · Poppy's Enron birthday party · The Saudi money laundry and the president's uncle · The sentence of Enron's John Forney · The holiness of Neil Bush's marriage · The Silence of Cheney: a poem · South Park Christians · Capitalist against Bush: Warren Buffett · Fastow childen vs. Enron children · Give your prescription money to your old boss · Neil Bush, hard-working matchmaker · Republicans against fetuses and pregnant women · Emboldened Ken Lay · Faith-based jails · Please die for me so I can skip your funeral · A brief illustrated history of the Republican Party · Nancy Victory · Soldiers become accountants · Beware the Merrill Lynch mob · Darleen Druyun's $5.7 billion surprise · First responder funding · Hoovering the country · First Command fifty percent load · Ken Lay and the Atkins diet · Halliburton WMD · Leave no CEO behind · August in Crawford · Elaine Pagels · Profitable slave labor at Halliburton · Tom Hanks + Mujahideen · Sharon & Neilsie Bush · One weekend a month, or eternity · Is the US pumping Iraqi oil to Kuwait? · Cheney's war · Seth Glickenhaus: Capitalist against Bush · Martha's blow job · Mark Belnick: Tyco Catholic nut · Cheney's deferred Halliburton compensation · Jeb sucks sugar cane · Poindexter & LifeLog · American Family Association panic · Riley Bechtel and the crony economy · The Book of Sharon (Bush) · The Art of Enron · Plunder convention · Waiting in Kuwait: Jay Garner · What's an Army private worth? · Barbara Bodine, Queen of Baghdad · Sneaky bastards at Halliburton · Golf course and barbecue military strategy · Enron at large · Recent astroturf · Cracker Chic 2 · No business like war business · Big Brother · Martha Stewart vs. Thomas White · Roger Kimball, disappointed Republican poetry fan · Cheney, Lay, Afghanistan · Terry Lynn Barton, crimes of burning · Feasting at the Cheney trough · Who would Jesus indict? · Return of the Carlyle Group · Duct tape is for little people · GOP and bad medicine · Sears Tower vs Mt Rushmore · Scared Christians · Crooked playing field · John O'Neill: The man who knew · Back to the top






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