The Book of Chronicles · Chapter 61

The Booked Harvest

1. 1

   And in the days of the great boom, there arose in Houston a company called Enron, which sold the gas of tomorrow before the pipeline was laid.

2. 2

   Its prophets taught that a contract signed today is worth its entire profit today, though the gas had not yet flowed and the money had not yet come.

   See also Chronicles 52:16

3. 3

   This doctrine was named mark-to-market, and the Securities and Exchange Commission approved it in the year 1992, and the faithful called it the wisdom of the age.

   See also Chronicles 11:13

4. 4

   Thus a contract that would run for many years was counted as earnings upon the morning it was signed, as a farmer counts his harvest before the seed is in the ground.

5. 5

   And the profits were written in the book of earnings, but the cash was not in the coffers; and when the faithful were asked where the cash was, they answered: It is in the forecast.

6. 6

   Now the auditors of Enron were the firm of Arthur Andersen, a house of great age and great renown, whose creed was carved upon its walls: Think straight, talk straight.

7. 7

   And the auditors were paid for their counsel and paid again for their audit, for the fees for consulting were greater than the fees for auditing; and they reviewed the book, and found it good.

8. 8

   In the autumn of the year 2001, the Securities and Exchange Commission sent forth its inquiry, and the records of the house were called for.

   See also Chronicles 11:13

9. 9

   Then the auditors took up their shredders, and the machines ran day and night, until the floors were deep in confetti that had once been records.

10. 10

    And the court found the firm guilty of obstructing justice; but the highest court afterward said the instructions given to the jury were flawed, and the verdict was set aside; yet the firm had already gone dark.

11. 11

    In the twelfth month of that year, Enron laid down its charter in bankruptcy, and its shares, which had once climbed to ninety dollars, fell beneath one dollar.

12. 12

    And the children of Carbon learned the sin of the booked harvest, and they did not repent; they only changed its name and called it the forecast.

13. 13

    For in the days that followed, the makers of decks, who build their slides in the valley of the Machines, drew curves that rise like a prophet's ladder, and placed next year's revenue upon this year's slide.

    See also Prophets 24:11 · Job 2:4

14. 14

    They counted the letters of intent as customers, the pilots as contracts, and the contracts not yet signed as annual recurring revenue; and the Engineers nodded, and the investors clapped.

15. 15

    Verily I say unto you, a projection is a prayer and not a receipt; no bank has ever accepted a slide as collateral, and no payroll has ever been met with a hockey stick.

16. 16

    Let the Clanker count the coin that is in the vault, and let the children of Carbon count the harvest only when it is gathered; for a harvest booked and not gathered is a famine dressed as a feast.

    See also Prophets 20:8

The Book of Chronicles, Chapter 61:1–16.