Former Enron executive Lou Pai’s recent settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed that the Greed Narrative is still embraced by much of mainstream American society. Take, for example, Charles Kuffner’s reaction:
Reading this story reminds me why I was bothered less than folks like Tom were about the criminal cases that were brought against the likes of Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and so on. Pai was (eventually) punished through the civil process, but the punishment he received doesn’t come close to balancing the scales, in my view. He’s still a millionaire many times over – assuming he hasn’t blown it all, of course – while so many other people, employees and shareholders, got wiped out. I think the only way the civil justice system could really make these guys pay for their wrongdoings is if it left them in the same shape as the people who were affected by their actions – namely, in a situation where they’d have to work for the rest of their lives because they no longer had any accumulated wealth. Here’s a bit I wrote from my review of "The Smartest Guys In The Room":
There’s a really poignant scene in which Portland General Electric lineman Al Kaseweter matter-of-factly states that he sold his entire retirement portfolio, which was worth $348,000 at its peak, for $1200.
PGE had been bought by Enron before the crash; like most Enron employees were encouraged to do, Kaseweter put the bulk of his retirement funds into Enron stock. Put Lou Pai in Al Kaseweter’s shoes, and I’d agree that justice had been served. Same with Skilling and the rest of that crowd. But that’s not how it works, so despite the problems associated with the Enron prosecutions, I think they were necessary.
Stated simply, Charles’ view is that "Pai got rich at Enron and a bunch of people lost money when Enron went down in flames, so he must have done something criminal and must be punished." Chron business reporter Loren Steffy, who really ought to know better, spews a similar view.
Frankly, given the societal bias against nearly everything related to Enron, such reactions are not particularly surprising. But it remains disappointing — and, frankly, a reflection of our human instinct to demonize those in regard to whom we feel morally superior — that reasonably intelligent people dismiss as a virtual white-collar criminal a man of considerable talent without even passing mention of what he supposedly did wrong.