Employees may not have had any choice but to put retirement money into Enron's stock, but they did have a choice as to where to work. I'd bet most of those employees could have found work elsewhere if they wanted to. But the real problem is the breakdown in the implied moral and ethical contract that an employee has with it's employer. The guys at the top screwed them over, and that could happen to anyone at any company and not just Enron. Even a company with a totally diversified pension fund can have it stolen and abused by crooks.
If there is any catching of the problem when it's small, it's not helping poor Bob out, it's making sure companies maintain the transparency required to catch the problem when it's small at the origin (the crooks). At any rate I really think that a safety net is an important part of our civilized society, but it must be made an absolute last resort. Poor granny out on the street may have made some poor decisions in her life, but she's in not position to fix them at this point, and likely not capable of earning an income on her own either. She should probably be helped out. Poor Bob who lost his job at Enron may or may not have made some poor decisions in his life but if he's still able to earn an income, he should be getting that new job and earning that living elsewhere. Bob's by no means at the last resort stage and while he may need a kick in the pants financially, we as a society are under no obligation to bail him out and collectively bring him back up to any standard of living above "here's some food, now go get a job, we'll help you find one if you need it". Sure we could try to educate the poor Bobs out there so that they don't become poor old men with nothing to their name, but when push comes to shove, you can't force people to do something they don't want to do. And besides, someone's gotta work the drive through at the McDonald's and if everyone in the country has an MBA, then an MBA will be taking your order. -Cameron On 1/10/06, Dana <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > We all make mistakes and bad choices, Gruss. Some of us get penalized > more savagely than others. By the way, from what I remember, Enron > employees were not given any option for their retirement account > besides Enron stock. > > Outside of empathy though, it is generally better to take care of > social problems while they are small. For example. Bob Doe has worked > in the mailroom at Enron for 10 years. He is pretty good at his job. > Since he wants to send his kids to college (isn't that the American > dream?) he moonlights somewhere else. > > Enron goes kablooie through no fault of his own. I know your scenario > says that Bob should have gotten an MBA and a job with another > corporation but who is to say that this other corporation would no > thave been playing the same games with its balance sheet? And he would > be even more vulnerable there as a new hire. Anyway, so Bob can't make > his mortgage payment. Bob runs through unemployment, which is still > not enough to make the mortgage payment though it does put food on the > table (Bob being a proud sort does not want to apply for food stamps). > > Eventually Bob loses the house and we have Bob and his wife and his > kids now NEED food stamps. Except that this does not get them into > housing and they do the shelter system for a couple of years waiting > for subsidized housing to come available. Meanwhile, the kids wind up > at the crappiest of public schools and learn that the grownup world is > both arbitrary and stupid. Frustrated, they turn to drugs and > delinquency. > > Total costs under this scenario are far higher than they would have > been if Bob had gotten some job coaching and maybe a low-cost loan to > help with his mortgage payment in time for it to do him some good. > Sure, if he had gotten himself an MBA and a cool new job with Arthur > Anderson he might not be there (wait a minute).... but then again > there would always be a mailroom clerk at Enron, see my point? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:191541 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
