Perhaps they should have bailed out Enron, but only in exchange for re-regulation of the electric power industry, which should never have been de-regulated. That entire question, however, is basically irrelevant to my posting.

My point was not that Enron should have been bailed out. My point was that both the request of the bail out and the denial thereof constituted material information that should have been disclosed to the public, especially the stock-trading public. Once the information was in the possession of cabinet officials it could no longer properly be kept secret. About the only laws that are regularly enforced regarding the stock markets are the laws regarding proper disclosure of material information to the public and prohibiting insider trading.