An S.P.E. is a partnership between two or more companies (outside investors), and a bank will be much more likely to supply a large loan to parternerships rather than to a single company. The partnership then giving you all the money makes a big difference because it did not have to be recorded in the company's balance sheet and"a company could raise capital without increasing its indebtedness."
2. How did Enron pit "twists into the S.P.E. game?" What does it mean that Enron "didn't always put blue-chip assets into the partnerships"? What was problematic about Enron using its own executives to manage the S.P.E? What was Enron's guarantee?
Enron pit "twists into the SPE game by "not always put[ting] blue-chip assets into the partnerships—like oil leases that would reliably generate income. It sometimes sold off less than sterling assets..." aka, Enron wasn't contributing its' equal share to the paretnership. Enron usuing it's own executives to manage the SPE was problematic because "the company would make the deals work—that is, get the partnerships and the banks to play along—by guaranteeing that, if whatever they had to sell declined in value, Enron would make up the difference with its own stock." The company effectively sold parts of itself to itself, which is a waste of time and money.
3. How did the world come to learn of Enron's use of S.P.E.'s? Is Gladwell correct in claiming that this is another example of a mystery? Explain.
"The public became aware of the nature of these S.P.E.s through the reporting of several of Weil's colleagues at the Wall Street Journal..." Gladwell is correct in claiming that this is another example of mystery because it is not straightforward information, but information gleaned through slowly trying to untangle the tangled web that Skilling wove.
4. What is the difference between "scrounged up" and "downloaded?"
There is no difference. They mean the same thing in this context, and "scrounged up" is simply slang for "download."
5. Why does Gladwell claim that "It scarcely would have helped investors if Enron had made all three million pages public."? Explain what Gladwell means when he says, "But here the rules seem different." Who is Andrew Fastow?
Gladwell claims that it wouldn't have helped investors if Enron had made all 3 million pages public because it was so much paperwork that it would be unlikely that a team of individuals could read all the pages and understand everything on them, in a reasonable amount of time (relative to why they would need to read the pages). When he says "But here the rules seem different," he is showing how Enron is a mystery because as the more information in found and provided, the harder it becomes to narrow down a clear-cut conclusion. Andrew Fastow was "Enron's chief financial officer, [and he] didn't understand the full economic implications of the deals, either, and he was the one who put them together."
6. Why has the "Disclosure Paradigm" become an anachronism?
The "Disclosure Paradigm" has become an anachronism, in the case of Enron at least, because it seems to have become unnecessary for a company to inform the public about its business, at least as much as it used to.
7. Why did treating the German secret weapon as a mystery prove to be more useful? Specifically, how did the "propaganda analysts" (the batty geniuses) use reason to uncover the Nazi V-1 Rocket?
Treating the German secret weapon as a mystery was proved to be more useful because the individuals who cam up with the information were able to do so freely, by listening to open -air broadcasts, and using the information given to them instead of seeking out the information, which could have gotten them killed. The "batty" genii would listen specifically for plans the Nazi's had that they might accidentally reveal, to the unknowing public.
8. How has diagnosing Prostate Cancer transformed from a puzzle to a mystery?
diagnosing prostate cancer has transformed from a puzzle to a mystery, because, once upon a time, a doctor could do a simple exam to determine whether or not a patient had cancer. If the puzzle pieces fit, the patient would have prostate cancer. Now, instead of waiting for the signs of prostate cancer to appear, doctors take precautions, such as monitioring PSA ("a substance associated with prostate changes"), ultrasounding problematic concentrated areas of PSA, and sometimes doing a biopsy of the spot, However, none of the tests are definitive, and the only way to be sure is to have been tested for it directly, like when it was a puzzle.
9. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, how has "the situation facing the intelligence community has turned upside down?"
"The situation facing the intelligence community has turned upside down" because "now most of the world is open, not closed." Now, all the details are available for perusal, where as before the collapse of the U.S.S.R., general behavior was "predictable," but the details were not know.
10. How does Admiral Bobby R. Inman believe the U.S. should strengthen the U.S. intelligence system? Why was his answer seen as unusual?
Admiral Inman believed that the US should strengthen their intelligence by "reviv[ing] the State Department," His answer was unusual because it was "the one part of the U.S. foreign-policy establishment that isn't considered to be in the intelligence business at all."
11. Gladwell writes: In a post-Cold War world of "openly available information," Inman said, "what you need are observers with language ability, with understanding of the religions, cultures of the countries they're observing." Inman thought we needed fewer spies and more slightly batty geniuses.
Does this curriculum sound familiar?
Does this curriculum sound familiar?
This curriculum does sound familar, in fact it sounds just like the IB. In the IB, students are taught to explore and expand their thoughts particularly on the subject of religion, and cultures in countries all over the world, which may be studied at any one time.
No comments:
Post a Comment