Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron (Paperback)

by Robert Bryce (Author) "Sherri Saunders was out of place..." (more)
Key Phrases: deal diva, gas trading business, one source close, Ken Lay, Wall Street, Jeff Skilling (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Finally, an Enron book that actually explains what happened at Enron. Bryce, an Austin, Tex., journalist familiar with the energy and telecommunications industries, offers a colorful account of the most spectacular corporate self-destruction in American history. Tracing the company's history, he shows how deal-focused executives like CEO Jeff Skilling transformed a fiscally responsible energy supplier into an out-of-control trading firm. He describes risky practices, like "mark-to-market" accounting and shell corporations, in clear, concise language that doesn't confuse readers who don't have MBAs. The book relies heavily on good ol' boy colloquialisms (e.g., "If [George W.] Bush had been any more simpatico to Enron, he could've been charged with a misdemeanor under the state of Texas' buggery laws") but backs up every unusual assertion, revealing, for example, connections between Bush and Enron going back to the mid-1980s. Not that Democrats were innocent; there's also extensive coverage on what Enron got from government agencies during the Clinton administration. While the emphasis on sexual misconduct among the top brass and its correlation to the financial shenanigans is arguable, Bryce makes a reasonable case for former chairman Ken Lay's unwillingness to control his staff's behavior-and inability to lead by example. This isn't just the first book to make sense out of the debacle; it's a vivid cautionary tale about the consequences of the lurid excesses-personal and professional-of the recently ended economic bubble, where corporations and their employees were so obsessed with acquiring wealth they became "dumber than a box of hammers" about making-and saving-money.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
The first Enron expose (The Anatomy of Greed, by Brian Cruver [BKL UF Ag 02]) was a view from the inside by a former Enron employee with a focus on the final months leading to Enron's demise. This one is a comprehensive piece of investigative journalism that gives a much larger overview of the energy industry, the history of Houston, and the complete story of how a medium-sized gas pipeline company became an international energy developer and trader in the complex world of energy derivatives. Along the way, Austin Chronicle reporter Bryce reveals the political history of "The Crooked E" with its ties to the Bush family and Senator Phil Gramm, who, without shame, sponsored legislation that directly benefited Enron and allowed the company to conceal its debts. All of the high-level players at Enron are profiled, and you get an excellent sense of their personalities and plenty of gossip about the sexual infidelities that ran rampant with this group of executives. Most importantly, Bryce unveils the intricate accounting schemes that allowed Enron to switch from a healthy cash flow business into one that put all its emphasis on trading revenues while ignoring the massive expenses that would ultimately pull the company into bankruptcy. Bryce's account is a prime example of how greed, arrogance, and influence lead to corruption, deception, and ruin. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (December 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586482017
• ISBN-13: 978-1586482015
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #555,421 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Priming the Enron Pump, April 26, 2003

By	TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron (Hardcover)

Penn Square was peanuts. Robert Bryce's witty racountement of the rise and fall of Enron reminds this reader of Mark Singer's equally entertaining tale of the itty-bitty shopping center bank in Oklahoma City that went bust and took the Western Oklahoma Oil Boom with it.

Bryce's book, with introduction by Molly Ivins, is as eminently readable and well organized as Enron was not. It starts and ends with sympathetic folk - those drug down in the Enron muck. Along the way, the reader meets the Politicos, the Pie (or is that Energy?) In The Sky Wheeler-Dealer Traders, "the Divine Miss Mark," Fast Andy Fastow, Snakey Skilling, and Kenny-Boy (President G.W.'s endearing nickname for his Buddy) Lay. Fans (if any) of Senator Phil and wife Wendy Gramm will not be amused by this foray through the Swamp that was Enron. This is an essential Enron primer, complete with footnotes, Index, and explanations of "Mark to Market" accounting that even us "Liberal Arts" majors can understand.

I urge you to BUY this book. Borrowing the library's copy is not recommended, as one should not write the outraged tirades that this book is sure to produce in the margins of Other People's Books.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ali Baba and His Thieves, January 2, 2003

By	Michael K. McKeon (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron (Hardcover)

Okay, we all knew that the Enron scandal was noxious, and we knew that there was substantial governmental complicity. However, the degree of bald faced corruption and theft pervading all aspects of the commodities and trade professions and the extensive government acquiescence, if not compliance, which Bryce describes stagger the imagination.

This is a thorough, well documented study of the Enron scandal, from the corporation's early origins. While extensive, and depressing, Bryce alleviates it with sardonic depictions of the unvarnished vulgarity of the senior management feeding at the Enron trough.

Bryce is fair in that he gives the Clinton Administration its due for facilitating the depradations of Enron; however, while resisting the effort to go for the jugular, he makes it clear that the greatest beneficiaries of Enron's largesse were Republicans, particularly the two Bush administrations. He reserves most of his vitriol for Senator Phil Gramm and his wife, who were undeterred at any time by ethical concerns about their undisguised conflicts of interest in judgements on regulations benefitting the corporation that was filling their pockets.

Bryce provides a number of tutorials on accounting and trade and commodity practices that help the "lay" person understand how the transgressions were allowed to occur and mushroom. Reading "Pipe Dreams" you wonder first why the many members of the Enron management aren't in prison, much less the obscenity of their being able to loot the company and retain their obscene fortunes. It is incredibly disillusioning, and you are left with an increased sense of impotence, yet your outrage is alleviated by Bryce's biting sarcastic wit.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Last in a series of reviews, November 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron (Hardcover)

This will be my third and final online review of an Enron-related book (barring any oustanding new releases on the subject). As with all previous efforts, I remain anonymous since I was an employee of the company during the mid 90s and would like to avoid any attention which my efforts may draw. Having read the Cruver, Fox, the Bryce/Ivins books and reflected on all the events, this review may feel more like a commentary than an actual review.

That being said I think the common thread throughout all the books is that Enron remains an enigma. Everyone defines Enron differently depending on their perspective and that is affected by the information they have in hand. For some this is an indictment on greed in America. For others this is a monumental failure of governmental oversight and regulation. I believe in neither. In a recent conversation with another former Enron employee, he asked me to allocate 10 points towards the contributing factors of Enron's demise. I don't even recall how I allocated the points and would probably give a completely different answer today. His answer differed significantly from mine as he assigned the majority of the blame to accounting systems and Arthur Anderson. That is endemic of the ever-shifting nature of the situation, and to be honest, events still remain to unfold. Fastow has been indicted, but what is happening with Lay, Skilling, and the other senior managers and board members? If story ends here, the only lesson that will be learned from Enron is that it's probably worth the risk to create an unsustainable, poorly-capitalized business model (and discounting the possibility of fraud to cover up that fact) if you can walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars in stocks and options.

The Bryce/Ivins book focuses largely on the corporate culture of the Enron as being the culprit. An early conversation with a fast-talking, mid-30s, Lexus-driving former employee, led the authors to the thesis that Enron was a product of its deal-making, wheeling-and-dealing culture. They support that thesis by analyzing the beginnings of the company, the key players, and the many questionable transactions. Perhaps, my telephone conversation triggered it, but the discussion with my friend made me take more notice of the chapter on the Performance Review Committee (PRC) which is discussed in detail in this book (and in the other books). During the PRC, all employees are forced ranked 1 to 5 under a secretive, Byzantine process. The authors contend that the process created and championed by Skilling is largely responsible for the corporate culture at Enron. It rewarded the dealmakers who brought in the dollars. Combined with the emphasis on current quarterly and annual income that is often marked-to-market, it is no surprise why the environment was ripe for entering into bad transactions (i.e. negative NPV or cash flow but high current MTM income) which ultimately needed to be covered up with off-balance sheet shennanigans.

Like a dimaond under the proper magnification, I think all readers will find some fault with the books about Enron including this one. However, the book provides a contribution worthy of being part of the literature on the subject.