"One reason to take classics in college is to learn the meaning of hubris. Better to absorb its meaning from the Greek playwrights than hearing it read out from a federal judge at sentencing."
Who wins?
The lawyer's
"Jeffrey Skilling’s $70 million defense got him 24 years in prison and an order to forfeit $45 million.
What would he have gotten with a public defender?
Mr. Skilling, we are told, owes $30 million to his lawyers, having already spent $40 million of his own and Enron’s insurance money on a ludicrous “nothing happened” defense. Other chief executives, at WorldCom, HealthSouth and CUC International, admitted there was a scandal, but insisted they were victims of crooked subordinates. Sometimes the defense worked, soemtimes it did not. But at least it was better than insulting the intelligence of the jury by saying Enron turned out to be worthless because the press reported its problems and traders got scared.
Since Mr. Skilling is said to not have enough money left to pay both his legal fees and what he was ordered to pay on Monday, it will be interesting to see who gets the money, particularly given that he will run up more fees on appeals."
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