To add to what has already been said...

I feel that the accounting practices by companies like Enron, MCI-Worldcome, Tyco, Global Crossing, etc., etc. was not uncommon. The fact that it was done on such a wide scale indicates to me it was almost a commonly accepted practice to make your balance sheet look good. I wonder how many companies were able to pull it off?

However once 9/11 happened the period of time that these companies would need to cover and hide their losses got too great and many of the CEOs, CFOs, and other officers panicked. They were then in turn not able ot hide what they were doing and their companies folded. This created a worse environment with investors who already were not investing as much becasue of the tech slide and were now investing less because established companies were now in trouble.

And thus we come to today.