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Scott MThere are a couple of things to keep in mind about those who lost money in Enron's 401K. First, most of them chose (of their own volition) to place all of their assets into one stock. Certainly the corporate leaders gave them reason to believe the company was going to continue to grow. But lets face it - adults have to act like adults. I've made bad investment choices before, and I've lived and learned. I don't expect the government to repay my lost investments - the fact that people risked it all on one stock shouldn't entitle them to any special benefits. For those who are in bad financial shape, they should turn to their families first and to charities second. For most it means that they might have to continue working for several years longer than they planned, thats part of life.
The second thing to keep in mind is that the amount that people say they lost is entirely predicated on the runup of Enron stock. Their returns were enormous - some that only invested 40-50,000 in their 401K had returns approaching 900,000. Now when their totals hit 750,000 did they decide to diversify - no, they expected they'd double their money soon and stayed. The great thing about this country is that your allowed to fail and there is no limit to the number of times you can try again. Freedom isn't security and I for one don't ever want it to be.
I would add that I hope and expect the corporate officers who promoted AND KNEW about the fraud to be prosecuted, jailed and fined. But I don't support in any way the government providing money to those who willingly invested their life savings in Enron stock. The individuals that I truely feel bad for are those employees that were with Enron when it was a true pipeline company - but I'm guessing that many if not most of those folks were a bit more practical than the traders that became the typical Enron employee.