Monday, January 31, 2011

What was the Enron Scandal?

In my BPA 140 class today, my teacher mentioned the Enron scandal.  I wanted to research and I find out what happened.

The first thing I did was look up "Enron scandal" in the google.com search bar.  I skipped the wikipedia link, and went straight to the one from www.time.com  It gives several articles on everything behind the Enron scandal.

http://www.time.com/time/2002/enron/#

After skipping through a couple more links, I found BBC News, who summarizes the whole scandal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1780075.stm

Apparently in just 15 years Enron grew to be America's seventh largest company.  But the firm's success turned out to be an elaborate scam.  Enron lied about its profits.  It wasn't til an employee finally decided to be a whistleblower, only after addressing the CEO a couple of times about the lies.  When the deception unfolded, it forced the firm into bankruptcy.

This was pretty interesting.  Definitely something to keep in mind when thinking about Business Ethics.  

Sunday, January 30, 2011

What is the State of the Union Address?

I want to find out what the State of the Union address is.  I've heard of it but am not completely sure as to what it is.
So the first thing I did was type in just that into google's search bar.
"the State of the Union Address"

The first link that pops up is from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_address

As stated from wikipedia "The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress."

This practice arose from a command given to the President in the constitution of the United States.

"He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." 
- Article II, Section 3 of the United States Constitution




Although you have to watch wikipedia, because it can be written by anybody.  This particular article has very creditable sources.



I found the State of the Union address for 2011, where President Barack Obama gave his remarks on January 25th at the link below
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-state-union-address


The white house would most likely have to be as creditable as you can get when giving information on any of the President's remarks.  This link gives his entire speech.



Still using www.google.com, I found videos in full of the President giving his first State of the Union address.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTMrs9vpoqg 


The link above is from CBS News Special Report and is live.  

On a lighter note, I also found a link to make the State of the Union address a little more interesting:
http://www.drinkinggame.us/

Apparently someone made a list of the most common things said during this annual speech and made it into a drinking game.  Probably not the best way to spend your time, but I found it amusing.


So in conclusion, I now know that once a year the president has to present the State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress to report on the condition of he nation.