The miserable fate of Enron’s employees will be a landmark in business history, one of those awful events that everyone agrees must never be allowed to happen again. This urge is understandable and noble: thousands have lost virtually all their retirement savings with the demise of Enron stock. But making sure it never happens again may not be possible, because the sudden impoverishment of those Enron workers represents something even larger than it seems. It’s the latest turn in the unwinding of one of the most audacious promises of the 20th century.
The promise was assured economic security—even comfort—for essentially everyone in the developed world. With the explosion of wealth, that began in the 19th century it became possible to think about a possibility no one had dared to dream before. The fear at the center of daily living since caveman days—lack of food, warmth, shelter—would at last lose its power to terrify. That remarkable promise became reality in many ways. Governments created welfare systems for anyone in need and separate programs for the elderly (Social Security in the U.S.). Labour unions promised not only better pay for workers but also pensions for retirees. Giant corporations came into being and offered the possibility—in some cases the promise—of lifetime employment plus guaranteed pensions? The cumulative effect was a fundamental change in how millions of people approached life itself, a reversal of attitude that most rank as one of the largest in human history. For millennia the average person’s stance toward providing for himself had been. Ultimately I’m on my own. Now it became, ultimately I’ll be taken care of.
The early hints that this promise might be broken on a large scale came in the 1980s. U.S. business had become uncompetitive globally and began restructuring massively, with huge Layoffs. The trend accelerated in the 1990s as the bastions of corporate welfare faced reality. IBM ended its no-layoff policy. AT&T fi
文章倒数第二段第一句指出职工的唯一的投资选择（sole investment option ）是造成悲剧的最大原因，从该段第二句也可看出，如果他们将投资分散在各个investment options的话，可能就不会造成这么大的悲剧，故A项正确。从文章可知，人们普遍认为I’ll-be-taken-care-of，但此次悲剧不仅说明了所谓的经济安全的瓦解，也警醒了他们须为自己负责，不能再想当然以为企业、社会或者政府会为他们负责。故B、D两项都正确。从最后一段可知，人们的思想观念不可能一下子转变过来，因而有可能这样的事会再发生，故C正确。D并不是从Enron disaster得到的教训。
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