Cronies in Arms. This is a Common Dreams article (via Jorn) by Paul Krugman, describing Enron / Hallburton / Cheney / US-Arms situations in frightening detail. One powerful quote “When one top executive learned of millions in further losses, his e-mailed response summed up the whole strategy: Close a bigger deal. Hide the loss before the [next quarter]. The strategy worked. Enron collapsed, but not before insiders made off with nearly $1 billion. The sender of that blunt e-mail sold $12 million in stocks just before they became worthless. And now he’s secretary of the Army.”
Fraudodynamics – Coined by Barry Minkov / Minkow (?) the Teenage Fraudster (see earlier blog) – uses similar example around Nick Leeson case – simple rationale leads to major corruption – tacit, non-pre-meditated, emergent, conspiratorial cock-ups, are just as likely as pre-meditated conspiracies. The dividing line is academic as far as the catastrophic conseqences are concerned. Institutionalised in “received rationality”.