Total Bailout Bill: $8 Trillion

Third

Jeff Skilling to Gaza Strip.

Tomorrow is Super Happy Awesome Fun Day. Pass it on.

Casper avoids being trapped again...

Casper avoids being trapped again...

Casper avoids being trapped again...

GULCing SHEEP

We know... We know... the Jews have invaded Gaza.

wow, elie, really tough to get that opinion. http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/ i can deal with the misspellings and such, but with no news this site becomes worthless.

The only important part of the opinion is in the last 5 pages. Basically, the appellate court found that the sentencing judge improperly added 4 levels (to a level of 40) to Skilling's advisory sentencing number, for jeopardizing a financial institution. He was sentenced to 292 months, at the bottom of the 2000 USSG table for a 40-level. Take off the 4 levels and give him the bottom of the 36-level and he'll still be in the slammer for at least 188 months (15.5 years). Lessens the chance he'll die there, but still a tough sentence.

Not a game-changing decision -- really on USSG minutiae.

12, thanks.

That's the kind of legal answer I wanted. Quick, explained, and clear. You know, like we used to get here all the time.

Most of my knowledge about Enron comes from Conspiracy of Fools, but it made the pretty strong argument that Skilling shouldn't be the fall guy. Fastow was the on brain that hatched all the illegal schemes, and for which he (and his wife) personally profited. Lay was the one who set the loose culture. Skilling was portrayed as mostly just saying "if the accountants think it's okay, then I'm okay with it too."

So it's pretty sad that Skilling is the only one in jail. Of course, the book may not be the whole story, but Skilling was definitely the most sympathetic of the three.

Conspiracy of Fools is the worst book out there on Enron -- Eichenwald clearly had sources who wanted a certain view (pro-Skilling and somewhat pro-Lay, very anti-Fastow) portrayed. Bethany McLean's Smartest Guys In the Room is leaps and bounds better, giving a more balanced and detailed analysis.

Conspiracy of Fools is the worst book out there on Enron -- Eichenwald clearly had sources who wanted a certain view (pro-Skilling and somewhat pro-Lay, very anti-Fastow) portrayed. Bethany McLean's Smartest Guys In the Room is leaps and bounds better, giving a more balanced and detailed analysis.

Also, poor Jeff Skilling is NOT the "only one in jail" of the three Enron bigwigs -- Fastow is in jail until at least 2011, and Lay would've gotten as much time as Skilling. Plus, at least a dozen other folks have served time for their Enron misdeeds.

Most of my knowledge about Enron comes from Conspiracy of Fools, but it made the pretty strong argument that Skilling shouldn't be the fall guy. Fastow was the on brain that hatched all the illegal schemes, and for which he (and his wife) personally profited. Lay was the one who set the loose culture. Skilling was portrayed as mostly just saying "if the accountants think it's okay, then I'm okay with it too."

So it's pretty sad that Skilling is the only one in jail. Of course, the book may not be the whole story, but Skilling was definitely the most sympathetic of the three.

I figured that Conspiracy might be slanted, although it was very readable. I tried to watch the movie based upon "Smartest Guys" and it was horrible. I'd read th book, but that ship has passed- Enron is so seven-years ago now.

15 (and for some reason, 17. I swear I only clicked once!)

i actually read "smartest guys in the room" and it still seems like skilling isn't the right guy to be spending more than a decade in jail. i get the command responsibility thing, but when the accountants you pay to manage the books and the lawyers you pay to check up on them both tell you what you're doing is aboveboard, why is believing them worth 15 years in jail?

I met Bethany McLean once. She's super hot.

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

Demented Roy "Lost Pants" Pearson just refuses to go away. If we want to eliminate waste in the legal system, start here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601075.html

I met Bethany McLean once. She's super hot.

Bethany McLean is indeed hot. And now married to Sean Berkowitz, former head of the Enron Task Force. Supposedly didn't get together till after the book and trials, etc....but still.

>>

He's rich, educated and white. We're lucky the little thief has done as much time as he has. He'll be out in a couple years. All the complicated legal analysis in the world doesn't change the fact that, were Skilling some unconnected pot dealer, he'd get (and serve) 55 years like my buddy Weldon Angelos: http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2004/11/judge_cassell_l.html

Unconnected pot dealers win appeals on Guidelines calculations all the time, 26. It's not a big deal.