You can't take it with you

That's the lesson in the Enron fiasco. Ken Lay, chairman of the one-time energy company, died yesterday at his home. He probably would have died in prison otherwise. He was awaiting sentencing on fraud and conspiracy charges. Although he maintained his innocence during the trial, does it seem suspicious to you that he sold much of his Enron stock as the collapse was beginning, even while telling stockholders and employees that all was well? One could argue that government deregulation of the energy companies set the table for this mess. In any event, since he died before exhausting his appeals, the conviction may be abated. A lot of people's retirement savings were lost when Enron collapsed and now one of the men who profited from the fraud is dead and guess what, you can't take it with you.