Documentary: The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Rise and Fall of Enron
To fulfill the requirements of the first documentary assignment, watch the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room online and answer the questions below. Print your responses and turn them in in class.
1. How many days did it take for Enron to go bankrupt?
2. At its height, what was the estimated dollar value on Enron?
3. Who were known as the "smartest guys in the room," "captains of a ship that could never go down"?
4. How many employees lost their jobs as a consequence of Enron's collapse?
5. Which former president helped promote Ken Lay's vision of deregulation?
6. What was the ‘rank and yank' system?
7. What after hours activity did Lou Pai engage in as the CEO of EES?
8. In what country were many people terrified of investing in?
9. What one word question were Enron employees and supporters always encouraged to ask?
10. What was the title of the article written by Bethany McLean questioning the viability of Enron's stock?
11. Which state was selected to experiment on with a deregulated electricity market?
12. What did audio tapes reveal to be the only real Enron value?
13. What were Enron traders betting regarding the price of electricity?
14. What research scientist sought to understand the roots of evil through electroshock experiments in the 1960s?
15. How much did the energy crisis cost the state of California?
16. What movie star ran for the office of governor against Gray Davis as a result of deregulation?
17. What Enron whistleblower sent an anonymous letter to Ken Lay explaining that Enron's accounting practices were fraudulent and that the company was in dire financial straits?
18. What was the name of Enron's accounting firm that began destroying files?
19. Who had made more than 45 million dollars through LJM partnerships?
20. To what classic banking event did Skilling attribute Enron's failure?
21. For how much did the former Enron employee driving the truck sell his Enron stock for, despite the fact that it was once priced at 348,000?
22. Who committed suicide weeks after the Enron bankruptcy?
23. What was the larger lesson of the Enron failure?
24. What was the average severance pay for fired employees?
25. How much did retirees lose in total pension funds?