My Thoughts On My Last Post

Yesterday I heard a guy on TV saying some good things about Ken Lay. He prattled on in regard to how much Mr. Lay had lost in the Enron Scandal as so much of Lay’s personal money was tied up in his business. According to this fellow Mr. Lay had about $193 million in equity and over $450 million in debt. Mr. Lay was using the equity in the business to pay down his debt. In the opinion of this gentleman this would be the same course of action of any prudent business owner. The point being that perhaps the media only reported the bad aspects of the scandal as opposed to the scandals good aspects I guess.

In my last blog I said some heartfelt words about Mr. Lay’s legacy. This morning I thought how nice it is to have a blog. When you are speaking with people, you cannot take back regrettable word. When you publish something in print and you have second thoughts about it, you can print a retraction although the words are already on the page. But in a blog you can always edit, delete and make changes.

But in regard to my new knowledge of Mr. Lay’s business losses I stand by my words. It’s good to find some nice things to say about those who have passed. Its part of our humanity to want to be kind to those left behind. My feeling is a prudent business owner would not use the resources of his shareholders and employees to his own advantage. It’s illegal. He knew and in fact caused the overvaluing of Enron stock. Not only did he violate trust and confidence, he violated the law. When he bailed out, he made certain that he and his family were comfortable.