Notes & Sources

7. Horatio Alger Must Die

The statistics for corporate compensation come from: "Executive Pay," John A. Byrne et al., Business Week, May 6, 2002; "Executive Pay: A Special Report," Alan Cowell, The New York Times, April 1, 2001. The Business Week report also noted: "In the past decade, as rank-and-file wages increased 36 percent, CEO pay climbed 340 percent, to $11 million."

Fortune's report on corporate crooks, "You Bought, They Sold," was published September 2, 2002.

The bulk of the information in the section on Dead Peasants Insurance, as was noted in the text, comes from the great work of Ellen E. Schultz and Theo Francis. "Valued Employees: Worker Dies, Firm Profits Why?" appeared in The Wall Street Journal on April 19, 2002. Other subsequent reports include "Companies Gain a Death Benefit," Albert B. Crenshaw, The Washington Post, May 30, 2002; and "Bill to Limit Dead Peasants Policies Ignored to Death," L.M. Sixel, Houston Chronicle, October 4, 2002.

To find out more about the bill in Congress that would let companies put less money into the pension funds of blue-collar workers, see "Bill Reduces Blue-Collar Obligations for Pension," Mary Williams Walsh, The New York Times, May 6, 2003. You can read more about the "Senior Death Discount" controversy in "Life: The Cost-Benefit Analysis," John Tierney, The New York Times, May 18, 2003.

If you would like more specific information on Ken Lay's contributions to the Bush campaign, or if you're looking for information on campaign donations in general, check the excellent people at the Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org. Information on Bush's use of the Enron jet see "Enron: Other Money in Politics Stats," Center for Responsive Politics, November 9, 2001; and "Flying High on Corporations," Capital Eye, Winter 2000. Reports of Bush's quick detour from campaigning to see Lay throw the opening pitch at Houston's Enron Field appeared in "Bush Visits Top Contributor for Houston Baseball Bash," Megan Stack, Associated Press, April 7, 2000.

For more on "Kenny Boy's" role in "helping" Bush select people for the new administration and his part in Cheney's "Energy Task Force," see "Mr. Dolan Goes to Washington," James Bernstein, Newsday, January 4, 2001; "Bush Advisers on Energy Report Ties to Industry," Joseph Kahn, The New York Times, June 3, 2001; "Power Trader Tied to Bush Finds Washington All Ears," Lowell Bergman and Jeff Gerth, The New York Times, May 25, 2001; "Bush Energy Paper Followed Industry Path," Don van Natta and Neela Banerjee, The New York Times, March 27, 2002; "Judge Questions U.S. Move in Cheney Suit," Henri E. Cauvin, The Washington Post, April 18, 2003.

Additional information about Enron can be found in the following: Richard A. Oppel Jr., "Enron Corp. Files Largest U.S. Claim for Bankruptcy," The New York Times, December 3, 2001; Steven Pearlstein & Peter Behr, "At Enron, the fall came quickly; complexity, partnerships kept problems from public view," The Washington Post, December 2, 2001; Leslie Wayne, "Enron, preaching deregulation, worked the statehouse circuit," The New York Times, February 9, 2002; John Schwartz, "The cast of characters in the Enron drama is lengthy, and their relationships complex," The New York Times, January 13, 2003; Jim Drinkard & Greg Farrell, "Enron made a sound investment in Washington," USA Today, January 24, 2002; Stephen Labaton, "Balancing deregulation and Enron," The New York Times, January 17, 2002; Jerry Hirsch, et al., "Safeguards failed to detect warnings in Enron debacle," The Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2001; Mary Flood, "The Fall of Enron," Houston Chronicle, February 5, 2003; Jerry Hirsch, "Energy execs gain millions in stock sales," The Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2001; Stephanie Schorow, "Wealth of options," Boston Herald, September 30, 2002; Jake Tapper, "Secret hires warned Enron," Salon, January 20, 2002; Ben White and Peter Behr, "Enron paid creditors $3.6 billion before fall; filing also details payments to executives," The Washington Post, June 18, 2002; Jim Yardley, "Big burden for ex-workers of Enron," New York Times, March 3, 2002; Eric Berger, "Enron facing pension lawsuit," Houston Chronicle, June 26, 2003; Steven Greenhouse, "Public funds say losses top $1.5 billion," The New York Times, January 29, 2002; Mary Flood, et al., "Far from finished," Houston Chronicle, June 22, 2003.

Enron and Andersen's political donations and the conflicts of interest they ultimately caused in the government's "investigations" are discussed in Don Van Natta Jr., "Enron or Andersen made donations to almost all their congressional investigators," Don Van Natta Jr., The New York Times, January 25, 2002. Information on Enron's attempts to hide its law breaking, and the Bush administration's decision to do nothing about the impending collapse can be found in: "Shredded papers key in Enron case," Kurt Eichenwald, The New York Times, January 28, 2002; "Ken who?" Bennet Roth, et al., Houston Chronicle, January 11, 2002; "Bush aide was told of Enron's plea," Dana Milbank, The Washington Post, January 14, 2002; "Number of contacts grows," H. Josef Herbert, Associated Press, January 12, 2002.

"President" Bush's attempt to deny his close friendship with Ken Lay are documented, first and foremost, in the transcript of a question-and answer session with reporters on January 11, 2002. This can be found at www.whitehouse.gov. Also see "Ken who?" Bennet Roth, et al., Houston Chronicle, January 11, 2002, "Enron spread contributions on both sides of the aisle," Don van Natta Jr., The New York Times, January 21, 2002 and "Despite President's Denials, Enron & Lay Were Early Backers of Bush," Texans for Public Justice (www.tpj.org), January 11, 2002.