Yeah, well "arbitrage" them, too.
As if you needed further evidence that the mooks at Enron represent the basest, crassest and most nakedly amoral side of America's financial industry, well... they were kind enough to tape their crime spree.
CBS has the details. Roll film!
"He just f---s California," says one Enron employee. "He steals money from California to the tune of about a million."
"Will you rephrase that?" asks a second employee.
"OK, he, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day," replies the first.
When a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, cutting power supplies and raising prices, Enron energy traders celebrated, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports.
"Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing," a trader sang about the massive fire.
"I want to see what pain and heartache this is going to cause Nevada Power Company," says one Enron trader on the tapes. "I want to f--k with Nevada for a while."
"What do you mean?" a second trader asks.
"I just, I'm still in the mood to screw with people, OK?" the first trader answers.
During California's rolling blackouts, when streets were lit only by head lights and families were trapped in elevators, Enron Energy traders laughed, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales.
One trader is heard on tapes obtained by CBS News saying, "Just cut 'em off. They're so f----d. They should just bring back f-----g horses and carriages, f-----g lamps, f-----g kerosene lamps."
And when describing his reaction when a business owner complained about high energy prices, another trader is heard on tape saying, "I just looked at him. I said, 'Move.' (laughter) The guy was like horrified. I go, 'Look, don't take it the wrong way. Move. It isn't getting fixed anytime soon."
Employee 1: "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?
Employee 2: "Yeah, Grandma Millie man.
Employee 1: "Yeah, now she wants her f-----g money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her afor f-----g $250 a megawatt hour."
And the giant kick in the nuts:
officials at the FERC, the very agency charged with regulating energy companies, has not only known about the tapes for two years, but fought attempts to release them.Now Senator Barbara Boxer of California has called on the FERC to go after those who gouged energy consumers and end those expensive contracts -- or else.
"I said wait a minute, who are you representing here, those folks who cheated us or the consumers," says Boxer.
"I'm calling on President Bush to ask for the resignation of any FERC commissioner who continues to stand in the way of justice for California consumers who were victimized during the energy crisis," she says.
But to add insult to injury, Enron and other energy companies hope to pull themselves out of bankruptcy by collecting on the contracts, and are now suing their victims.
What I don't understand is why Bush isn't making a load of populist political hay out of crusading to have these mongoloids hung from the nearest lamppost. It would be so easy, and so good for his polling! "I may be a Texan businessman, but there are lines you do not cross. These evildoers must be brought to justice." But sadly, no. Just a black hole of procedure, obfuscation, and casual lassitude.
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Bush has been quite
Bush has been quite consistent on this point, Johno: he never makes this kind of populist hay when the "mongoloids" in question are major donors. Which they were. I have no idea if this just an extension of Reagan's "don't speak ill of a fellow Republican" dictum or something endemic to Bush/Rove.
BTW, shouldn't CBS be reporting on these guys in court? WTF? What kind of thievery is required to get white dudes in suits in trouble these days?
I get your point(s), and
I get your point(s), and concur, but only because I look past what's been reported to what they actually did, which was to rig the markets.
Nothing above is actually illegal, but it will all go a long way toward determining their jail sentences. Their JOB is to buy low and sell high (not necessarily in that order), and they're allowed to be profane and disrespectful while doing so. It's what's not in the tapes that is disgusting to me.
And I'd predict that justice will be done, not by the FERC, but by the courts. I'm all for free markets, but the energy market isn't called a "public utility" accidentally - FERC should have been more watchful, and Bush shouldn't ask for the resignation of only those who stand in the way of justice; all those on watch during the fleecing should go.
As for Enron et al suing victims to uphold contracts, that's quite fair. As is the defense against such suits, a fraud or market-rigging claim.
Patton, that's actually the
Patton, that's actually the root of my anger too. It's the cavalier glee, coupled with the fact that their glee is in part coming from watching their market-rigging work itself out, that burns me up.
I don't give a shit if energy traders worship Satan and keep ocelots as pets. It's when they try to play petty little gods in defiance of the law is when I get irritated.
The lawsuits are of course legal, but legal doesn't mean it looks good.
Oh, but that's where (I hope)
Oh, but that's where (I hope) you're wrong. My faith, such as it is, in the justice system tells me that Enron's going to lose those suits, because their fraud and market rigging in California will finally be proven.
And then, we here in Houston can reach up, grab the handle, and watch the remainder of that sorry company go swirling around the porcelain. Not a minute too soon, either.
Luckily, the businesses here that were most severely affected by the demise of Enron appear to have gotten right-sized, and are now over the shock, or have at least stopped complaining as much. Those businesses? The strip clubs.