Listen to an excerpt of National Public Radio's marketplace report on Enron. Included in the report is an interview with yours truly discussing the story I broke on Enron executives creating a phony trading floor to impress Wall Street analysts.

SECTION THREE

Allegory Number 3: NARCISSUS
Narcissus, handsome though he was, came to love looking at his reflection in the pool so much that he one day tried to kiss it -- and fell in the water.

"The Sting"
Jason Leopold, reporter for Dow Jones Newswires, says that Enron went to unbelievable lengths to paint a picture of success. In 1998, Enron executives staged an elaborate sting to convince analysts of Enron's worth by having secretaries pretend to be conducting business on phones that weren't even connected.