"Conspiracy of Fools"

Currently reading "Conspiracy of Fools"

It sat on my shelf for a long time and I don't even remember buying it, but at over 700 pages it seemed too daunting. Anyway, I started it on my trip to Texas and it is really hard to put down. I think it's the somewhat annoying way the author tells the story, with various anecdotes of things that are happening concurrently. So, each little snippet may only be a half a page, maybe a whole page. Again, while annoying, its hard to stop reading it.

I am surprised to find myself less harsh of Kenny Lay (but some people have said the author is too easy on Lay). Although he was VERY guilty of failing in his fiduciary duty to stockholders (including employees) for being clueless, I'm much more convinced of the guilt of Fastow and Skilling, especially Fastow. That guy was sleezy. As for Arthur Anderson, I used to wonder if they took too much flack, but they weren't just negligent, they were co-conspirators in much of Fastow's schemes.

There were many people who tried to raise flags, but when the CFO is the criminal and has all the power, it's hard to stand up to that. But you have to wonder why NO ONE had the balls to do anything more substantial (maybe it was the rising stock price??)