US History 1973 - 2014 Commonplace Book: Lecture 27, Catastrophic Failure: Enron, Katrina & Politics in the mid-2000s

Enron, based in Houston, is in the vanguard of a powerful movement that hopes to "financialize" (Enron's term) just about everything—that is, trade almost everything as if it were stock options. That movement is as much about politics as it is about business... [L]et's hope that it doesn't take a string of catastrophes to teach us that there are limits to what markets can do.

—Paul Krugman, The New York Times, August 17, 2001

The broader goal of [Paul Krugman's] latest attack on Enron appears to be to discredit the free-market system, a system that entrusts people to make choices and enjoy the fruits of their labor, skill, intellect and heart.

—Kenneth Lay, Enron CEO, August 22, 2001

Introduction to (and explanation of) this quote series can be found here.  Read this tag to see all of them.