Summation: read this book. yes, read this book (or listen to the audiobook).

Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald is a book on Enron. The book outlines in riveting detail all the schemes and general idiocy of the Enron employees — most notably, Andy Fastow.

Eichenwald is a New York Times reporter who goes in-depth to try to explain both the money laundering and also the personalities behind the crimes. This is a good example of an out-of-control company were all the compensation was tied to items not in the long-term interest of the company. Enron, more than almost any other company, was a true slave to the bubble stock market of the 1990s and began going downhill when it changed its revenue reporting standards to a mark-to-market system.

this is a very important book to get a glimpse behind the motivations of the stock perpetrators.