Mg-Ed-Dv-ers,
I'm emailing the below "Enron Message" to my students and send
it to you to consider doing likewise. I received from a posting by Bill
Sodeman <
bill@sodeman.com> to
IABS-L@lists.psu.edu .
Cybercollaborating,
Charles Wankel
Mg-Ed-Dv List Director
-----Original Message-----
Capitalism
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies,
and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
Enron Venture Capitalism
You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed
company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the
bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer
so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred through an intermediary
to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder
who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The Enron annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option
on one more.