Retirement Security in the Wake of the Enron Scandal free essay sample

A look at the proposed reforms in the law to protect retirement schemes after the fall of Enron. The paper shows that the spectacular collapse of Enron, the largest corporate bankruptcy in the history of the United States, has created a call for legislative and other reforms to protect employees who invest part, sometimes a large part, of their retirement savings in company stock-option plans. The paper discusses these proposed reforms and its opposers. One thing the defenders of the status quo ignore is the lock-down period. Although Enron insists that the lock-down period was an a routine administrative necessity that had been panned for some time, others feel the timing was just too convenient, given how desperate the company was to hold up the price of its stock just at a time when a number of financial losses were about to be exposed, and many employees might have chosen decided to sell off some stock. We will write a custom essay sample on Retirement Security in the Wake of the Enron Scandal or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If the system is to be free of regulation, and everyone must be responsible for their own decisions, then they must be able to make those decisions and act on them. The lock-down period had nothing to do with free-market decision making. There is also a basic inequity here. As several of the proposed bills acknowledge, if there is going to be a lock-down period, it must apply to the people in the most senior management positions as well as to the rank and file workers. One thing Americans always ask for is a level playing field.