Buy, Lie, and Sell High: How Investors Lost Out on Enron and the Internet Bubble

Politicians Lend Their Aid

Enron made substantial campaign contributions to many politicians of both parties. Reporters looking for specific favors that office holders provided to Enron in return have apparently found little. But this doesn't mean that Enron received nothing for its political contributions.

There were, in fact, decisions of regulatory agencies that were favorable to Enron, and Congress played a role in championing these. Perhaps favorable decisions would have been made in the absence of political contributions, but perhaps not.

“Let's get real, folks,” wrote Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes, in discussing the Enron collapse. “Tax and accounting laws are written as favors to one group or another and are manipulated with impunity ...