"The Smartest Guys in the Room" Get a Brand New Room to Live In

[Elfcat]

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room took the Oscar for independent films this year. Today, a jury found Kenneth Lay guilty on all 28 counts against him, and Jefferey Skilling of 34 of the counts against him.

As a Californian, I well remember the electricity supply woes which resulted from their mischief in the wake of the deregulation they so wanted.

In fact, I remember coverage of a big protest in Sacramento at which it was announced that the following day would begin a long campaign of citizen lobbying of state legislators to stand up to this manipulation.

That protest occurred on Sunday, September 9, 2001. Needless to say the lobbying was cut short after one working day.

[Ned Sonntag]

KennyBoy's cellmate will sing...

[CleverBomb]

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room took the Oscar for independent films this year. Today, a jury found Kenneth Lay guilty on all 28 counts against him, and Jefferey Skilling of 34 of the counts against him.

As a Californian, I well remember the electricity supply woes which resulted from their mischief in the wake of the deregulation they so wanted.

In fact, I remember coverage of a big protest in Sacramento at which it was announced that the following day would begin a long campaign of citizen lobbying of state legislators to stand up to this manipulation.

That protest occurred on Sunday, September 9, 2001. Needless to say the lobbying was cut short after one working day.
As a California expat, I'm relieved to know they were found extremely guilty.
Now if we could only get to the bottom of why the FERC didn't intervene, and The Governator settled for pennies on the dollar for the extortionate electrical rates...

-Rusty

[1300 Class]

Good show for justice. :)

[NYEmtEsq]

As a Californian, I well remember the electricity supply woes which resulted from their mischief in the wake of the deregulation they so wanted.

And these electricity supply shortgages have had nothing to do with the abysmal pace at which new electrical generation has been built? Nothing to do with the complete lack of any new nuclear plants since the 1970's (which, in turn, is due to a paranoia stemming from an accident which harmed absolutely nobody, and an incident involving a reactor which would have never seen a drawing board outside of the former USSR)? And it has absolutely nothing to do with the internet consuming approximately 15% to 20% of all electricity generated in this nation? Even assuming that conservation alone could balance off the grown in consumption due to population growth, the fact that 1 out of every 5 watts generated goes to our computing networks necessitates that we address the electicity shortfalls with real solutions.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no defender of Lay and Skilling, and am as happy as the next guy that they will soon meet their respective prison Bubbas, but blaming electricity shortage supplies on Enron is quite short-sighted and will do nothing to address the long term problems.

[Elfcat]

As a California expat, I'm relieved to know they were found extremely guilty.
Now if we could only get to the bottom of why the FERC didn't intervene, and The Governator settled for pennies on the dollar for the extortionate electrical rates...

-Rusty

Greg Palast is threatening to offer his own opinions, being one of several events to capitalise on the numerology of June 6th 2006. He seems to think it's more than a coincidence that the recall was mounted shortly after Davis demanded the whole 9 billion dollars back. Golly, one might even think that some people like Democrats better when they stay spineless. :cool:

[Elfcat]

And these electricity supply shortgages have had nothing to do with the abysmal pace at which new electrical generation has been built?

Including under deregulation you mean? But yes, I understand, and there are even campaigns to shut down some of the older ones, including Bay View Hunter's Point in San Francisco.

Nothing to do with the complete lack of any new nuclear plants since the 1970's (which, in turn, is due to a paranoia stemming from an accident which harmed absolutely nobody, and an incident involving a reactor which would have never seen a drawing board outside of the former USSR)?

Well a Green can't very well turn to the late USSR as any kind of environmental role model. Capitalists and Communists alike seem equally in danger of forgetting nature in the all-consuming quest for production.

As for nuclear, I've heard of new designs which are supposedly safer in operation, but I still worry over the ease with which some were infiltrated in mock exercises, and the false promises of clean energy too cheap to meter when these things were brought on line. I guess advocates see some future where nuclear-produced hydrogen may someday be used in the machinery used to mine, refine, transport and bury the fissionable material, but up to now fossil fuels have been used for much of that.

And it has absolutely nothing to do with the internet consuming approximately 15% to 20% of all electricity generated in this nation? Even assuming that conservation alone could balance off the grown in consumption due to population growth, the fact that 1 out of every 5 watts generated goes to our computing networks necessitates that we address the electicity shortfalls with real solutions.

No doubt. And it is a hard thing to switch the infrastructure from the coal and gas-based one that has existed for over a century, and the financial power behind these resources, which is why what some of us consider outdated technology has such staying power.

blaming electricity shortage supplies on Enron is quite short-sighted and will do nothing to address the long term problems.

Quite true. And there are already caveats going around that Enron could not have done what it did without cooperation from some of the above old-tech power giants and certain players in the financial community. The long term supply and the choices to be made in government policy as to which technologies to favor is indeed an issue far beyond Death Star and Get Shorty.

[Elfcat]

and an incident involving a reactor which would have never seen a drawing board outside of the former USSR)?

Yes, in the USSR, the government was both the manufacturer and the regulator, and that's a dangerous thing.

But we're not immune from that here, and everybody pretty much knows it. How business-friendly an American government is can pretty well be measured in how many regulatory officials bracket their tenure on the government payroll with employment by companies in the industry they are charged to regulate.

[Webmaster]

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room took the Oscar for independent films this year. Today, a jury found Kenneth Lay guilty on all 28 counts against him, and Jefferey Skilling of 34 of the counts against him.

As a Californian, I well remember the electricity supply woes which resulted from their mischief in the wake of the deregulation they so wanted.

In fact, I remember coverage of a big protest in Sacramento at which it was announced that the following day would begin a long campaign of citizen lobbying of state legislators to stand up to this manipulation.

That protest occurred on Sunday, September 9, 2001. Needless to say the lobbying was cut short after one working day.

I saw the movie, and the story told was so appalling that it seems almost inconceivable that it ever happened, or was allowed to happen. One can safely assume that no one who gave a damn ever tapped THOSE guys' phones.

[blubrluvr]

Don't get me wrong, I'm no defender of Lay and Skilling, and am as happy as the next guy that they will soon meet their respective prison Bubbas, but blaming electricity shortage supplies on Enron is quite short-sighted and will do nothing to address the long term problems.


100% correct. California's leftist enviro-nut politics kept it from bringing any new plants online. Had they built their own plants they would not have had to buy from outside sources through crooked brokers like Enron.

[blubrluvr]

Yes, in the USSR, the government was both the manufacturer and the regulator, and that's a dangerous thing.

But we're not immune from that here, and everybody pretty much knows it. How business-friendly an American government is can pretty well be measured in how many regulatory officials bracket their tenure on the government payroll with employment by companies in the industry they are charged to regulate.

Correction: BIG BUSINESS friendly. As a liberal, you ignore the flip siide of regulation: A barrier to entry for competitors. Big Business LOVES regulation because it introduces more cost into business models making it harder for an entrepreneur or an investor to enter their market. Notice how long it took for MCI to start giving the old Bell System some competition? The only thing that allowed them to to do so was the introduction of Microwave Communication. and once the FCC got their hands into the pie, nobody else
was interested in competing.

New jobs and markets are created in the absence of regulation. If the enviro-nut regulations making power plants difficult to build had not existed in the people's republic of California, the rolling blackouts would have never happened. There also would have been jobs for those who build and run them.

Energy, be it nuclear, oil, gas or even windmill or Solar is dangerous by it's very nature. Go out to those useless windmill farms out in Livermore and look at all the dead red tail hawks who flew into their propellers. Energy is dangerous, get over it! Regulation is not the answer. The answer is an effective Judicial system where lawsuits can be brought against the leadership of companies who adversely affect the environment and/or individuals.

The biggest problem we have in America is the concept of "limited liability" it allows companies to do horrible things and only the most horrible (like the Enron debaucle) ever find their way to court.

[fatlane]

Regarding California's electricity woes...

1. CA had no new plants going online. It had to import much of its vast electricity needs from other states. Clear case of NIMBY - Not in my back yard. CA won't pollute, but will pay handsomely for other states to pollute themselves.

2. CA needed more electricity so it "deregulated" the electric utilities. By "deregulated", they actually meant "re-regulate in a way that looks like we're using free market tools but we're actually not". CA required its electricity be bought as cheaply as possible, so they required that the electricity be bought where the cheapest prices were possible - on the spot market.

3. Buying on the spot market, although it does provide the cheapest prices, is not a reliable way to get electricity cheaply. At times, the spot market can have some price spikes.

4. Enron found a way to stick it to CA on the spot market and did so. Sure, they're bastards, but there are bastards everywhere. Most extremely rich people are, in fact, bastards, as they wouldn't have amassed such fortunes otherwise. Bastards will rip into any government scheme that locks down the government into a predictable pattern of behavior with no escape clause. Same thing happened in 1997 when some bastards figured out how to make a run on SE Asian currencies for fun and profit.

5. Had CA allowed a more flexible approach on electricty purchases, one that did not seek to dictate terms to the market, the Enron thing would have been a non-starter. A simple, "If spot market prices are too damn high, then buy electricity somewhere else" clause would have sufficed, "too damn high" being sufficiently vague as to allow for an aggressive interpretation in times of crisis.

RESOLVED: The guys running Enron were bastards. California, however, set itself up for the fall.