Martini Chat: Whys and What Nows of Enron's Collapse

The following is an excerpt from this week's Martini Chat, an hourlong, online program on market and current events at 5 p.m. EST every Thursday, hosted by TheStreet.com columnist Chris Edmonds and reporter Eric Gillin. To participate, visit TheStreet.com just before the show begins, and click on the invitation. To read the entire Martini Chat transcript, click here.

Eric Gillin: Chris, how about that Enron? I've never seen a company look more like Chevy Chase's career -- some interesting successes early on, but a few pratfalls later and no one on earth wants to see you anymore.

Chris Edmonds: It's a sad story, Eric, and one that probably could [have been] avoided. We will talk about it more later, but quickly, I want to point out a couple of things. First, our colleague Peter Eavis was out front early on this story months before anyone else was. He could have made or saved investors a lot of cash. Second, there is a super column on RealMoney today by David Brail , a fund manager in New York, discussing exactly how Enron's demise could have been avoided: simply by Enron being more open and forthcoming with investors.

It's the old Greenberg principles at work: Run like hell from a company that bashes shorts and says, "Trust us, we know what we are doing." ...