One of the most telling details of the Enron saga is the way that nearly everyone agrees that 'aggressive' (as in 'aggressive accounting') should serve as a synonym for 'deceptive.'

'Aggressive accounting' means massaging the numbers so they'll yield a deceptive impression of a company's financial health.

'Overly aggressive accounting' is bad because that's too deceptive.

But 'aggressive accounting' is okay because that's only deceptive, not too deceptive.

Is this the attitude that's at the root of the problem?