I normally like James Taranto (link requires free registration), but this is just too precious. This is such a amazing assumption that I don't even know where to begin: "Of course, the real problem was exactly the opposite: Enron cooked the books to hide the fact that it didn't reap the profits it was claiming."

It doesn't seem to occur to Mr. Taranto that there is an enormous potential for fraud when it's come to the point that the auditors are shredding documents. Where, exactly, does he think the money went? Squandered on Moon Pies perhaps.

I think it will become clear that a goodly portion of the money that Enron "lost" through it's business activities is in Switzerland or the Caymans or some place that banking is still private, if you get my meaning.