No Rest for the Wicked... I hope

Enron Corporation founder/convict Ken Lay died on July 5th from heart disease. And who knew this guy had a heart? If anyone ever doubted that life was unfair, this should be Exhibit #1 that this is the case. I, for one, was looking forward to years of reports of Lay reporting to prison, having his assets seized, getting his ass branded by his cellmate, that kind of thing. For him to depart this mortal coil without even being sentenced just strikes me as wrong. It makes me really want to believe in Hell.

I realize that Ken Lay has been around so long, serving as an all-purpose icon of corporate corruption, that some of his misdeeds have become abstract in the minds of the American public. Well, Lay was convicted (with Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling) of fraud and conspiracy for lying to employees and investors concerning the financial health and imminent collapse of Enron. This fraud led to the loss of pensions for thousands of Enron employees.

I would direct anyone seeking a more detailed view of the crimes of Enron executives to the book, Smartest Guys in the Room: the Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind; and the 2004 documentary feature based on the book, Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room, directed by Alex Gibney. The movie, especially, is wide-ranging in depicting how the greed and corruption of the company led to horrors such as the rolling blackouts in the Southwest a few years ago, and the eventual election of Arnold Schwarzeneggar as the Governor of California.

My pleasure is not completely snuffed, however. Hopefully, I'll still have Jeff Skilling's tribulations to observe. Skilling, who by virtue of his arrogant willfullness and ego, I deem just slightly worse than Ken Lay. But let's not count Ken out yet. I wasn't the only person who thought that Lay's death, at this particular time, was PRETTY CONVENIENT. It would be completely characteristic for Lay to have a homeless man snatched off the street and passed off as him, while he takes an extended vacation in, say, South America. You may call me paranoid, but I'm telling you, pay attention. If his family has "Ken" cremated, you'll know something is up.