The BBC takes a look at the impact of Enron on the city of Houston. Beyond all the corruption, fraud, sad stories and bankruptcy of the company, their report concludes with a comment of hope:
“But again, this is a city that doesn’t want to remember. They’re not introspective – they just pick themselves up and start over again. That’s what they’ve done.”
And that’s fine, unless it takes you right into the next Enron. The whole point of the Freudian revolution in psychology, I thought, was to actually deal with the issues in a frank and open manner in order to avoid repeating mistakes. I still remember when companies in California were told to completely shut down operations during rolling brown-outs, only to find out that Enron manufactured the shortages.
Not wanting to remember might make it easier to start anew, but if the US does not address energy market corruption the citizens/companies will suffer the same or even worse pain in the future. If you listen to Cheney, you might start to think that the “broken-window fallacy” could become a major policy platform for economic success:
“You’ll thank me for rebuilding your house”
— But my house is still standing
“You’ll thank me for renting you a demolition crew when you have to clear the rubble from your lot”
— What rubble? The house is still standing
“You’ll thank me for burning your house down when the police have to take it over”
— What? Why would the police take it over?
“You’ll thank me for sending the police to get rid of the problem with your neighbors”
— But there’s nothing wrong with the neighbors
“You’ll thank me for buying the properties next door and renting them out to people of my choosing”
— Wait a minute…
Success for the Cheney companies that run energy and reconstruction projects, that is. Failure for the economy.
