Can I put my Social Security funds into Enron stock ??

[kentuck]

I hear it is the best stock in the market. It has made a lot of money every year for everyone that has invested. I know people that have a million dollars in stock...and they are going to retire as millionaires... And Ken Lay is a good buddy of George W Bush...So it must be a real winner?

What you say?! It went bust? It ain't worth shit? You mean everybody lost everything they had? But George Dubya Bush said that was a good stock. He guaranteed I would do good if I put my money into Enron stock. Are you saying he would lie to me?

So if I put 4% of my 6% into Enron stock, I will still have 33% percent left, right? My 4% is really 67%, right? Man, my ass is going to be broke when it's time for my little, measly Social Security check to roll around. I wish I hadn't listened to Dubya way back then. I wouldn't be eatin' this catfood....

[libodem]

1. ooooh gooood idea

didn't they just take the biggest dump in the world on their last stockholders?

[dogman]

2. If you are afraid of risk there is another way.

You can take your money out of treasury notes and invest it in treasury notes minus a fee to the GOP connected firm that administers your new account.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

3. You can buy millions of shares at a bargain price, whch is...

...$0.00 as of Dec. 13, 2004. I haven't checked the price lately, but I'm sure it's still $.00. Please keep this figure in mind, those of you who want to sue the fraudsters at Enron.

[followthemoney]

4. Enron stock and other overpriced stock are exactly what Bush wants

you to buy. When you buy into the bubble you take the crash instead of Bush's budies. The big panic when bush came into office was that with no deficit there would be no new issue of treasury bonds. The tax cut required the issue of new bonds and that made a safe place to park money for insiders bailing out of the bubble. Stocks are still overpriced by historical averages. Big money needs you to buy in before the baby boomers stop buying and start selling. They need you to own the risk and keep the market pumped up.

[AP]

5. Republicans have fought for years against SEC rules that would give avg.

investors a clear picture of the stocks in which Bush envisions our ownership society picking. Our investment choices will be based on our own unprofessional impressions and on information that Republicans hope is as cloudy as possible -- which is always good news about earnings.

The SEC wanted to pass regulatiosn governming reporting on SPEs (? those special partnerships). They wanted to address the conflict of interet inherent in letting accountants provide consulting services worth 5-10 times more than their auditing contracts.

Who stood in their way? The same party trying to push privatization of SS. And what happened because Republicans blocked SEC effots? Enron. Worldcom. Sprint. Sunbeam...