As former Enron chairman and CEO Ken Lay prepares to take the stand today in Week Thirteen of the corporate criminal case of the decade, I wanted to pass along an interesting exchange of posts from this past week.
This previous post noted this Jim Johnston/Paul Fisher Heartland Institute article that questions the demonization of Enron generally and the validity of the Lay-Skilling prosecution, in particular.
Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy, who has believed for a long time that the book should be thrown at Lay and Skilling, responded to the Johnston-Fisher piece in this blog post.
In this follow-up post on the Heartland blog, Johnston replies to Steffy’s post and concludes by making the point that the type of innovative risk taking that Enron engaged in is often necessary for the creation of new markets, wealth and jobs:

I am glad to hear that the establishment of a once vibrant risk management system for natural gas is not just chopped liver in Mr. Steffyís opinion. The failed attempts with broadband, water and more importantly electricity, were good attempts and much was learned from the efforts. Maybe someday markets will be established in broadband and water. Electricity markets are even now recovering. It will take entrepreneurial companies with sizable assets to reestablish these markets. These companies will also have to watch out for the politicians.

These companies will need to watch out for the prosecutors, too!