Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room [DVD]

Ok, sorry that title was really pretentious!For a film which uses mostly facts and statistics (as well as testimony and interviews) this film is really compelling!It has taught me so much that I didn't know! The Energy conglomerate of Enron is documented from it's origins, right down to it's fall and the aftermath. Showing how Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling and Andy Fastow have manipulated not only the company but the government to play to their corruption and greed. Some of the stuff that these guys actually got up to is incredible! In one instance they lost a billion dollars from a cancelled project in India, but they decided to give themselves and the other higher ups bonuses from it anyway. It also shows how they treated the company as their own personal back account, paying a man named M.YASS a million dollars. I'll let you figure that one out.You know in films or T.V shows where they have those really extravagant business retreats like quad biking? These guys were the precursors!Overall, this is a really shocking, yet revelatory film (on the same level as "Bowling for Columbine") which will leave you asking why.

Intelligent review film, exposing all that is bad about greedy corporations.How the world is messed-up totally by their unbelievably corrupt behaviour.Obama apparently has some of the bad guys working for him today, obviously thinks theyare good guys!

I have been going through some of my old books and DVDs and came across this little beauty, which took me down memory lane to my own experiences in the banking world. As a teen, I exposed a fraud in the branch I was working. Instead of being rewarded for my vigilance, I was bullied and threatened, and a bloke allegedly from the Met came and gave me a good talking to. Although I stayed in banking for a few more years, the experience had eroded my confidence, I was always conscious of being watched, and I was never promoted.Recently one of the broadsheets cited yet another example of a pensioner being conned and threatened into perpetrating a fraud. Puzzlingly, his bankers played along, and it was only the intervention of the man's son that ensured his father was reimbursed. In the comments following this article, people were asking why don't investigative journalists find out what's going on. The people behind these sophisticated scams are clever and in-the-know. They are not cut from the same cloth as the Fifties gangs, whose thugs basically went round beating people up. The banks know more than they are letting on. IMHO there is a link with the callers who ring you out of the blue trying to convince you that you had a car accident. Somebody is selling your phone number to these scammers. I was targeted a number of times by a firm who tried to bully me into saying 'yes' on the phone to their questions, which evidently can trigger off an identity fraud. Most people who manage their personal accounts are savvy enough to be on the ball, but we all have our weaker moments, and these professional scammers know it. Be careful out there, people!

Very enjoyable and informative documentary covering one of the largest frauds in corporate history. Enron were an energy company with big ideas - as they failed to meet their ambitions they employed numerous artifices and frauds to hide the truth until it all imploded in spectacular fashion. The DVD features footage of all the main characters this drama, and makes clear that even the smartest of people are happy to fool themselves ( and everyone else) at times - and it is all the rest of us who take the pain for their arrogance and hubris

Long and detailed account of the key players and fraudulent practices that brought down Enron Corporation and Arthur Andersen, the iconic and oldest CPA firm in the US. Perfect film to use along side an Enron case study for an MBA seminar. Opens up wide ranging discussions related to both fraudulent financial schemes and corporate America's morale social responsibility.Requires advanced financial and accounting knowledge to better understand the complex financial structures implemented by this firm. However, it could nonetheless be useful for social-psych graduate students as far as the long term social consequences set in motion by the failure of firms "too large to fail".Questions to ask: What financial precedents were there to the Enron case?What or which U.S. Government Agency(-ies)could have prevented this disaster from occurring? Why did they fail to function? Are there any parallels in so-called "mafia" cases that may have preceded Enron?

This is a fascinating story of the guys who fooled people for a long time and then finally got found out, but it is a documentary, so, although entertaining, it is not quite as much a Saturday evening treat as a Monday evening film of interest.

Arrived early. Brand new. Bought as a Gift.

An engaging narrative using real news footage plus voice overs. I felt I now understood where Enron was coming from in the derivative frenzy of the 1990's and also remember the rolling electricity blackouts in California which, at the time were a bit of a mystery. A lesson what deregulation can do if not done carefully. The abandoned power plant in India was unknown to me.Very fast moving pace, Picks out nuggets of insight but skims over a lot which can be read up online in your own time.