Fat cats and running dogs : the Enron stage of capitalism

This text tells the global story of Enron and raises issues relating to the nature of US corporate behaviour at home and overseas.

Enron was a Texas company started in 1986, which only 15 years later was the 7th largest corporation in the world.

How did it grow so fast? Why did it collapse so spectacularly? Is it a maverick or, as this book argues, representative of a new kind of American capitalism, Enron was a company that did not produce , but merely traded, with many of its 2000 subsidiaries based in tax havens abroad.

Here, Vijay Prashad reveals how the new-style US corporations make their money: through the funding of politicians; the revolving door between public office and boardroom membership; manipulating themarket; monopoly deals with governments; not reporting balance sheet losses; hiding losses; hiding profits in taxhavens overseas; and forging improper relationships with auditing firms.

He addresses various relevant questions for the 21st century including: the mutual backscratching between politicians and corporate executives; the price paid by citizens, taxpayers and employees; and the ways in which US corporations rip off the rest of the world.