logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2019
1h 17m

Enron

Sarah Marshall
About this episode

Mike tells Sarah how a "bad apples” explanation kept us from seeing the real scandal at the heart of America's largest corporate bankruptcy. Digressions include “Casino,” Thanksgiving economics and corruption catchphrases. Neither co-host truly understands how the stock market works.   

Continue reading →

Support us:
Subscribe on Patreon
Donate on Paypal
Buy cute merch

Where to find us:
Sarah's other show, Why Are Dads
Mike's other show, Maintenance Phase

Support the show (http://patreon.com/yourewrongabout)
Up next
Jun 30
Pee-wee Herman Part 1 with Jamie Loftus
What’s today’s secret word? Paul Reubens spent years bringing to life one of America’s most beloved characters, Pee-wee Herman, an icon of joy for weirdos of all ages. In the first of this two part series, Pee-wee superfan-turned-historian Jamie Loftus lets us into the playhouse ... Show More
1h 8m
Jun 11
The Hitler Diaries with Adrian Daub
What happens when you’re just a little too good at forging the diaries of Adolf Hitler? And why did so many people want to read them? In 1983, the West German news magazine Stern bought sixty volumes of forged journals and held a press conference to announce their publication. Th ... Show More
1h 24m
May 24
Coyotes! with Lulu Miller
Who is out there behind the howling midnight parties in the distance? For generations we have coexisted in varying degrees of rivalry, conflict, and admiration with the North American canine known as the coyote. From pre-colonization to our modern backyards, through the wild west ... Show More
1h 16m
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2022
Enron
The FTX fraud has dominated headlines now for weeks, during which we’ve debated if and how Acquired could uniquely add to the conversation. Then we realized there was an angle so perfect that we had to drop everything and enter Acquired research overdrive: Enron. Travel back with ... Show More
3h 32m
Apr 2024
Listen Now: American Scandal
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Enron was like no corporation on earth. It was the ultimate corporate success story. But the key to Enron’s success? Accounting fraud. At the time, the scale of illegal manipulation of the American financial system was unprecedented. The sheer breadt ... Show More
5m 31s
Aug 2022
Dragon Fodder and Going “APE” 8/22/22
In the latest chapter of meme stock mania, AMC’s shares are tanking, and the company is getting creative to raise capital. As Americans await a potential decision on the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness, CNBC’s Sharon Epperson reports that many fear the policy coul ... Show More
30m 40s
Jun 2024
Tammany Hall Pt. 1: “Boss” Tweed
Tammany Hall was the executive committee of the Democratic Party in New York City during the 1800s formed with the intention of aiding the city’s immigrant population — but by the 1860s it was riddled with claims of widespread corruption, bribery and fraud at the behest of its le ... Show More
38m 42s
May 2024
How WWE made Donald Trump | Too Many Tabs
Mr. Pearlmania sits Mrs. P down and explains the long and complicated of how a madman learned how to work arenas full of people into a frenzy, became a billionaire, and had a best friend that became president of the United States of America. That's right, this week's episode is o ... Show More
1h 13m
Dec 2021
The collapse of Enron: Did we learn the lessons?
The collapse of the US energy giant Enron remains one of the most dramatic scandals in modern capitalism, but 20 years on did we learn any of the lessons from the fall of a corporate giant? The BBC's Lesley Curwen covered the story every step of the way back in the 2000's right u ... Show More
17m 27s