Editing You have two cows (section)

=== Enron scandal ===
The economics of the [[Enron scandal]] have been a target of the "two cows" joke, often describing the accounting fraud that took place in Enron's finances. Much of the beginning of the joke when used to describe Enron resembles the following:

{{block quote|[[Enron|''Enronism'':]] You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by your CFO who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on six more.<ref>{{cite web |title=360 Environmental |url=https://www.360environmental.co.uk/Newsletter/?id=33 |website=www.360environmental.co.uk |access-date=1 December 2022 |date=10 August 2009}}</ref>}}

The ending of the joke varies in most interactions. The magazine [[Wired (magazine)|''Wired'']] in 2008 ended the joke with Enron selling one cow to buy [[George W. Bush|a new president of the United States]], that no balance sheet was provided with the annual report, and ultimately the public buying Enron's bull.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |title=New and Improved Economic Cow Jokes |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/02/new-and-improve/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> In 2002, [[Power Engineering (magazine)|Power Engineering]] ended the joke by announcing Enron would start trading cows online using the platform COW (cows on web).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-02-01 |title=Enron and the Two Cows |url=https://www.power-eng.com/news/enron-and-the-two-cows/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Power Engineering |language=en-US}}</ref>