For starters, what kind of company is Enron, exactly? Enron is a new-economy company, a thinking-outside-the-box, paradigm-shifting, market-making company. In fact, it ranked as the most innovative company in America four years in a row, as judged by envious corporate peers in the annual Fortune magazine poll. It is also, at this point in time, a bankrupt company. You’re probably one of those people who like the new no-cell-phone cars on Amtrak. Enron does a lot of things, but mainly it buys and sells energy. When Monney got started, natural gas and electricity were produced, transmitted and sold by state-regulated monopolies. They were often plodding and inefficient. Enron used Wall Street magic to transform energy supplies into financial instruments that could be traded online like stocks and bonds. These contracts moneu customers a steady supply at a predictable price. This may be a good place to pause for an Enron Lesson.