CBS: Enron traders "caught in the act" manipulating CA energy markets

[SaintLouisBlues]

Dan Rather just reported this on CBS Radio News (4:00 pm CDT)

CBS has tapes, and this will be their lead story on the CBS Evening News tonight.

There were no links at cbsnews.com at this time.

[SoCalDem]

1. That's what the "recall" was all about..

Gropenator Ahhhnld "settled" our lawsuits with the energy scammers....(for pennies on the dollar).:grr:

[Lorien]

6. I keep saying that to my Ahnold lovin' CA friends

of course, they won't believe a word against Der Gropenfurer. :eyes:

[SoCalDem]

11. We supposedly had a 12B shortfall, and the lawsuits were due to settle

for at least 9B.... Do the math... $3B would be a breeze to make up.. Last I heard, we had "borrowed" 15 B and in 6 months we will need to borrow some more..:grr:

[Sequoia]

24. Sigh, we still can't get rid of him

A lot of us in the Golden State thought for sure he had worked a deal. I'd like to see if the people who voted him in are actually from here or did that border crossing trick to vote. Believe you me, we could smell a fish the minute he annouced it on TV. That was the only way he would've done it, on national TV. Right now, even his countrymen from the old country can't stand him either.

[keithyboy]

83. Point is, nothing will be done about it. Arnie won, public dumbed...

move on. It's over.

[Just Me]

21. Your dancing "thingys" made me smile,...broadly!!!

Thanks.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

64. Enron

Gropenator Ahhhnld "settled" our lawsuits with the energy scammers....(for pennies on the dollar).<<

And why not? It's only your money. Didn't some elderly persons die due to this manipulation of the energy market in Cal, doesn't that equal domestic terrorism? Enron lied... and we all know who their biggest recipient of campaign cash was.

http://www.nasvf.org/web/allpress.nsf/0/9678c02de84d729c8625693c00584324?OpenDocument
>>Political backlash is building. Lawmakers say they fear businesses will close and low-income elderly people will die of heat exhaustion in San Diego because they cannot afford air conditioning. They have called for federal investigations, price caps and rate freezes. Some consumer activists foresee the beginning of the end for deregulation in California.
"At the end of the day, there's not going to be anything left of except an experiment that was tried and failed," said Harvey Rosenfield, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.<<


>>The dollar is strong because that is how the market decides it.'George W Bush
"With free speech, you can gossip, criticize, attack and nobody is going to send you to jail"..g.w.bush 9/3/01<<

The dollar is strong because... Hussein is no longer able to take the Euro for oil payments... hence neither will other Arab nations..... just a warning to them... the light show and all... shock and awe... bring it on... dumb and dumber...

http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/11/01112000160846.asp
>>Baghdad this week insisted on and received UN approval to sell oil through the oil-for-food program for euros only after 6 November. Iraq had threatened to suspend all oil exports -- about 5 percent of the world's total -- if the body turned down the request.<<

[ThoughtCriminal]

103. Have they settled yet?

If they did, I missed it (Must have been on the road that week!)

[Nlighten1]

2. It only took them 3 years to figure this out.

But good for CBS!

[SaintLouisBlues]

37. Here's a link

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml

[BlueJazz]

3. As Beavis would say: Heh, Heh, Heh....Cool! n/t

[KissMyAsscroft]

4. Gee, really...

Only a few years late there CBS. Nice Work Sherlock!

Probably would have been helpful to report this before the recall!

[catzies]

16. That's in the past. We should all stand behind the Gubernator now.

Man, that much sarcasm is too hard to keep up.

:puke:

[leesa]

69. Especially since many, many people were sending them the info.

Excellent investigative reporting in the US!

[TEXASYANKEE]

5. This can't be true!

Why, I have it on good authority that the CA energy crisis was caused by those no-good, tree-hugging, bunny-loving environNazis. That's what the media reported for months and months and months and months.

[dae]

48. and don't forget about VP Dick!

;)

[markdd]

7. Is this really new info?

I thought that I'd heard they had the documents proving it last summer or even in late 2002.

Or...is it like torture, it doesn't 'exist' until the photos are on the news?:tinfoilhat:

[UpInArms]

8. really slow on the uptake on that story, aren't they?

I'm sure I should be grateful, but I'm finding it rather hard.

So when the f*** are they going to show what good friends *Co was with Lay? Or will they let those "I did not have a relationship with that CEO" stand?

[Just Me]

23. Slow is better than nada,...yes? Hell, at least it's surfacing.

The chickenshits are gaining some spine and courage.

I'll celebrate that regardless of the time it took for them to find some.

I'll kiss their bottoms for actually having the guts to produce "INFORMATION"!!! Yup,...I will kiss any butt brave enough to provide facts to our people. Yup, yup, yup.

[UpInArms]

30. okay, I'll be grateful

for the really stale crumbs that are beginning to fall from the table to the floor.

I really am hungry for red meat, though.

[0rganism]

35. Really. Just like the Iraq situation.

Peace activists: "There are no WMD, Saddam isn't tied to Al Qaeda, an invasion will lead to serious civil unrest..."

Newsmedia then: "Are war protestors traitors or merely anti-American naysayers? Details at six."

Newsmedia now: "Oops, maybe we should have covered their concerns."

CA Democrats: "Ahnold is just going to nullify the Enron lawsuits for his campaign contributors. You're voting for a rip off if you vote for him."

Newsmedia then: "Wouldn't you rather have a dubious sex scandal?"

Newsmedia now: "Oops. Guess we should have covered that, too."

Gets tiresome.

[UpInArms]

41. that's the one

I get very tired of knowing things and telling people the facts, then having to argue because the news media fails to cover the facts and just gives the fluff.

I do not feel vindicated when it comes out 3 years later. I feel rather cheated and angrier.

[Just Me]

50. Hey, you,...enjoy,...

,...enjoy the satisfaction of watching people finally "get it" *smile*. Sit back with me and experience the pleasure of others' revelations. It may not have happened yesterday,...but, it is happening,...each and every day,...which is far better than no revelations.

Pull back,...witness the pendulum swing. Feel good that you and I were a part of that *smile*. We are all are part of that.

[Kikosexy2]

9. But will...

Kenny boy get the cuffs and thrown in the slammer?? Cheney, Kenny Boy Lay et al. fucked Calif. big time and we want our money back!!

[cally]

10. Supposedly, CA will have another 'energy shortage'

this summer. I wonder which company is doing it this year. Bush/Cheney will continue to do nothing.

[phoebe]

51. Shell Oil ..

n/t

[WatchWhatISay]

107. My husband works for Shell

and either they are paying a bunch people a lot of overtime as cover or they're or they really have a big problem with one of thieir pipelines right now. He and his coworkers have been working average 16 hour days for over a week now. He said the are losing $95 per second ($8 milion per day), and 200,000 gallons from a broken pipeline.

[webtrainer]

12. Link

Report: Tapes hint Enron execs briefed on energy ploy

By CBS MarketWatch
Last Updated: 5/18/2004 12:11:25 PM


http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=21244096&brk=1

-------

This may not be the same exact story, but here's a link anyway!

[salin]

27. This would be a slightly bigger story... some execs knew

(though it was hard to believe that they didn't...)

I forgot - the Enron (mid level) trial(s?) started today, didn't they. Hence the out of the blue story.

[SaintLouisBlues]

33. You nailed it webtrainer.

It sounded like this trial is where the tapes originated.

The report on CBS news was devastating. Cheering on forest fires that were burning power lines.

Cussing like sailors while bragging about breaking it off in Grandma's rear end.

[jdj]

13. just read pg. 109 of "Power Failure" by Sherron Watkins

and Mimi Swartz.

That's all the info anyone needs, and this book has been out for a while.

I can't believe they are presenting this as news.

[gristy]

14. Ah, but the actions of these few absolutely do not represesent the

majority of hard working ex-employees of Enron, and certainly not on its skilled and honest management. I have complete faith in their abilities and trust in their actions during the time in question.

NOT

[One_Life_To_Give]

85. They had it coming?

So all the Enron employees who lost their retirement savings had it coming?

Sounds a bit too harsh to me. Some corrupt workers need to be making little rocks out of big ones. But the majority were probably decent folks who got swindled just like everyone else.

OLTG

[PROGRESSIVE1]

15. The REAL REASON that Arnold Schwartzenegger was.....

INSTALLED in the Govenorship! Arnold is a theif!!! He stole the Governorship from Gray Davis and he probably stole his fortune too!

:puke:

[UpInArms]

17. have to post one of my all-time favorite news reports

for this thread:

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={8A6CAC0F-B13E-4FC0-A11C-54FB87D0CB40}&siteid=mktw&dist=&archive=true

Bush: "Act boldly, swiftly' on energy

By Rex Nutting, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 5:26 PM ET Jan. 29, 2001

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- President Bush asked his top economic and energy advisers to "act boldly and swiftly" to address America's energy problems, but he indicated he has no magic fix for California's energy problems.

In fact, the Bush administration signaled that it's unlikely to give California any additional leeway on energy shortages, although it might seek to grant relief from regulations that make building new power plants more difficult.

"It looks like they're making progress in California, and we're pleased, because the situation is going to be best remedied in California by Californians," Bush said before the meeting.

"It's becoming very clear to the country that demand is outstripping supply," Bush said, asking his Cabinet to come up with a long- term plan for the nation's energy needs.

The search for new energy sources will certainly focus on regions of the nation now off-limits to energy development.

"If we don't find more energy supplies to meet the growing demand in places like California, the consumer's going to pay a dear price," Bush said. "And a good place to look is going to be
"The situation in California is beginning to affect neighboring states," Bush said as Vice President Dick Cheney convened the meeting with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.

"It's not just California," Cheney told Fox News Sunday as he made the rounds of the network talk shows.

Cheney insisted that Bush would not order power generators like Reliant Energy (REI: news, chart, profile) and Duke Energy (DUK: news, chart, profile) to sell electricity to California once the current federal order expires at midnight on Feb. 6. "It's merely spreading the problem to other parts of the West," he said in an appearance on ABC.

...more...

[swag]

18. Is it just me

or have US voters just unwittingly adopted this attitude of complacency by being forcibly fucked by strangers in the ass with sharp pointy things?

Nobody sits up for anything any more. It's all fucking video games.

[Walt Starr]

19. Uh oh, didn't Der Gropenfuehrer meet with Kenny boy?

If he's on tape, this will blow the lid off the GOP.

[ursacorwin]

22. yep

i'm at work so i don't have the links, but he met at the beverly hills hotel with milken and lay and other very interesting people...

[UpInArms]

25. will these do?

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/utilities/nw/nw003728.php3

Daily News (New York)
Oct 09, 2003
by JUAN GONZALEZ

ARNOLD'S BLACKOUT ABOUT ENRON

On May 17, 2001, after the third in a series of rolling blackouts in California, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and a small group of top California business executives held a private meeting at the plush Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills to discuss a solution to the state's mounting power problems.

The main guest at the meeting, and the man who asked Riordan to convene it, was Kenneth Lay, then-CEO of Enron Corp. This was five months before the Texas-based energy firm collapsed into the biggest bankruptcy and corporate fraud case in U.S. history at the time.

Also attending that May meeting with Lay was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who this week was elected governor of California.

Other participants included Michael Milken, the former junk bond dealer sentenced to 10 years in prison in the 1980s for insider trading, as well as the heads of several energy, biotech and investment firms.

So what was Schwarzenegger, then just another Hollywood star, doing at a private meeting with Ken Lay and all those high-powered business executives?

Good question.

You'd think Schwarzenegger, who told California voters during the recall election that he was not a politician, would have an answer.

...more...

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16902

Arnold's Enron Secret
By Greg Palast, AlterNet
October 5, 2003

It's not what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to the girls a decade back that should raise an eyebrow. According to a series of memoranda our office obtained today, it's his dalliance with the boys in a hotel room just two years ago that's the real scandal.

The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken.

Now, 34 pages of internal Enron memoranda have just come through this reporter's fax machine that tell all about the tryst between Maria's husband and the corporate con men. It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off.

Here's the story Arnold doesn't want you to hear. The biggest single threat to Ken Lay and the electricity lords is a private lawsuit filed last year under California's unique Civil Code provision 17200, the "Unfair Business Practices Act." This litigation, heading to trial now in Los Angeles, would make the power companies return the $9 billion they filched from California electricity and gas customers.

...lots more...

[JohnOneillsMemory]

75. I JUST MIKED ARIANNA HUFFINGTON AND TOLD HER TO SPILL THIS!

AND SHE WOULDN'T DO IT!

I was the audio engineer for a public forum on education budget cuts at Cal State Hayward near Oakland, CA today.

Lots of media and Arianna Huffington, the state treasurer, a couple of Hollywood arts types all decrying the budget cuts savaging the California university system.

I put the mikes on everyone and when I got to Arianna I said "please mention that Ahnuld met Ken Lay in 2001 in LA during the worst rolling blackouts and this state was economically destabilized for overthrow by the White House's Enron allies."

She said 'ok.' And then neither she nor anyone of the other speakers I printed out Palast's article for said anything.

I almost grabbed a mike and announced it myself but I decided that I was there to let them say what they intended to and not takeover for myself. Frustrating as all fucking hell.

After the event I collared an organizer of the event and he responded "they are just afraid of Ahnuld."

AAAAARGH. WIMPS! People are dying because of the scammed budget and Ahnuld's complicity.

[salin]

81. Could be, however, that with the article you passed along

and now with this news breaking (and the transcripts) that she (and others) will get the 'gestalt' - and use it in the future. Had you delivered it another time, it might have fallen into the "interesting... read sometime soon" pile of documents. But timing is everything. Ten:one this evening, as the news trickled out about this story, she digs around in her papers... 'what did that person gives me... where is it... is it related to this story...'

Good timing - can lead to good (albeit delayed) results.

[aquart]

20. Any chance of a trial before December?

[salin]

28. I think a (some?) midlevel trial(s?) were to start...

this month? Today? Bet that is from where this story originates.

[salin]

26. Wait... stop the press... we never heard that before...

I guess that is what folks mean when they say the press is finally coming around and getting critical about bush (and his cronies, and related scandals...) We are now in GroundHog NewsDay and we just woke up and the morning news is repeating... but this time it is slightly different (hey its reporting!) can we stop bush and his war this time around?

[0007]

29. CBS is pounding it home - I'll be tuned in

[salin]

31. so maybe these midlevel trials are going to provide

more fodder to fuel the problems with Enron and their connections to bush stories. All through the summer. Suddenly the bushco isn't catching all of the same free breaks/passes that they used to catch.

[0007]

32. Just heard the tapes. Unfuckingbelievable!!

and junior it appears was in on the scam.

$250.00 per KW

[salin]

34. heard online or on tv

I wanna hear!!!

[0007]

38. It was on tv 5:30pm news here in Midland

I Wish I had made a video.

[0007]

36. When Enron was questioned about the tapes,

the reply was "well, it goes to show 'ya some employees like to talk like "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" -

Ken Lay should be arrested immediately and sent to Abu Ghraib.

[UpInArms]

39. laughing at their thievery - it was disgusting

and a walk down memory lane:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1360017.stm

Wednesday, 30 May, 2001, 13:42 GMT 14:42 UK
California governor to sue Bush



California Governor Gray Davis has said he will sue the US federal government over its energy policy, after President George W Bush refused to cap the soaring electricity prices in the state.

California has been experiencing frequent rolling blackouts and a sharp increase in electricity prices since the beginning of the year.

President Bush
Following a meeting in
California with Mr Bush, Mr Davis said he would file a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over its alleged failure to ensure that energy costs were just and reasonable.

President Bush had earlier rejected demands by the authorities in California for the federal government to intervene to force down the prices.

Mr Bush had argued that price-caps would make the problem of chronic energy shortages worse.

But the president said he would ask Congress to release $150m to help low-income Californians pay their energy bills.

...more...

[Lorien]

44. Details?

I missed it. :-(

[malachibk]

47. It was great to hear the folks at Enron ENDORSE bush!

The tapes made it very clear that execs knew bush would look after their interests by screwing over the people of CA.

And to hear CBS call the statement "crude but true" was icing on the cake. They should replay it every day!

[aquart]

58. They really are. Making a clear visual connection to Bush policies.

Oh my.

This wouldn't have a thing to do with the FCC getting pissy about Janet's tit?

And the Republican fuss over the Reagan movie?

Could CBS have felt the clear presence of fascism? Finally?

[FleshCartoon]

40. The only thing keeping me from puking...

...while reading the transcript of that tape is knowing that this will fallout on BushCo. as well.

Those guys are scum and I'd love for everyone to be able to line up and take a whack at 'em.

[0007]

43. Here is the transcript from CBS

"(CBS) 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," the traders sang.

Four years after California's disastrous experiment with energy deregulation, Enron energy traders can be heard – on audiotapes obtained by CBS News – gloating and praising each other as they helped bring on, and cash-in on, the Western power crisis.

"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.

The tapes, from Enron's West Coast trading desk, also confirm what CBS reported years ago: that in secret deals with power producers, traders deliberately drove up prices by ordering power plants shut down.

"If you took down the steamer, how long would it take to get it back up?" an Enron worker is heard saying.

"Oh, it's not something you want to just be turning on and off every hour. Let's put it that way," another says.

"Well, why don't you just go ahead and shut her down."

Officials with the Snohomish Public Utility District near Seattle received the tapes from the Justice Department.

A spokesman for the utility said "This is the evidence we've all been waiting for. This proves they manipulated the market."

That utility, like many others, is trying to get its money back from Enron.

"They're f------g taking all the money back from you guys?" complains an Enron employee on the tapes. "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?"

"Yeah, grandma Millie, man"

"Yeah, now she wants her f------g money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her a------ for f------g $250 a megawatt hour."

And the tapes appear to link top Enron officials Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling to schemes that fueled the crisis.

"Government Affairs has to prove how valuable it is to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling," says one trader.

"Ok."

"Do you know when you started over-scheduling load and making buckets of money on that?

Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win.

"It'd be great. I'd love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy," says one Enron worker.

That didn't happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices.

"When this election comes Bush will f------g whack this s--t, man. He won't play this price-cap b------t."

Crude, but true.

"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse and that's why I oppose price caps," said Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001.

Both the Justice Department and Enron tried to prevent the release of these tapes. Enron's lawyers argued they merely prove "that people at Enron sometimes talked like Barnacle Bill the Sailor."

[FleshCartoon]

45. Yes, I've read it already.

But thanks for the link. Many others will now join me in puking. LOL.

:puke:

[KAZ]

71. Puke? That's the wrong word.

The grandma guys need to feel a bit more than "we puked".

[pfitz59]

77. I live in Snohomish County

I want my refund!

[aquart]

60. Well, you have the PG version.

Mine is rated R for violence and language. My whacker is very sharp.

[UpInArms]

42. LINK TO STORY HERE: Enron Traders Caught On Tape

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml

(CBS) 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," the traders sang.

Four years after California's disastrous experiment with energy deregulation, Enron energy traders can be heard – on audiotapes obtained by CBS News – gloating and praising each other as they helped bring on, and cash-in on, the Western power crisis.

"He just f---s California," says one Enron employee. "He steals money from California to the tune of about a million."

<snip>

"They're f------g taking all the money back from you guys?" complains an Enron employee on the tapes. "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?"

"Yeah, grandma Millie, man"

"Yeah, now she wants her f------g money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her a------ for f------g $250 a megawatt hour."

And the tapes appear to link top Enron officials Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling to schemes that fueled the crisis.

...more...

[Just Me]

54. Son of a ,....HO that has no GLO!!!

I am laughing and wanting to break,..something (I've wasted all worthless breaking items already *humpf*) at the same time.

I am going to meditate, now,...on,...electricity running through the bodies of those who emptied the plates of babies, forced the choice of heat over medication upon the elderly, exploited the pockets of hard-working people. I am meditating on that electicity running through their greedy bodies. It is good.

[sampsonblk]

46. Great Reporting by CBS

But no one will care. Our only hope is that since there are now tapes, the public may get the point, same as Abu Gharib. This Bush/Enron story has been out for quite a while, and no one really seemed to care.

What has happened to us?

[ILeft]

49. I'm sure Arnold, Dick, and Junior are appalled by this!

Never, never let yourself be taped!

Does anyone else think Junior and Dick and Karl laugh it up over all the easy money they "stole from those poor grandmothers," too? I think they do. This country is full of easy marks, especially when you control all the branches of government. How about some more tax cuts? yuk-yuk

[Kikosexy2]

52. F*#King ...

sick F*#ks!!! I'M MAD AS HELL!! DISGUSTING F*#KIN' PIGS--HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!! FOR ALL THAT, NOW WE CALIFORNIANS ARE PAYING THE PRICE REALLY UP THE ASS!! I HOPE THROW THESE MO-FOS IN JAIL ESPECIALLY LAY, CHENEY, AND THE CHIMP AND ARNOLD TOO--F*#KIN' NAZI!

[dArKeR]

53. J. Clifford Baxter's 'suicide' should be reopened as a 'Assassination'

And we all know who assassainated him. The Bush Crime Family!

---------


The strange and convenient death of J. Clifford Baxter—Enron executive found shot to death

By Patrick Martin
28 January 2002

Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author

Without anything that can be called a serious investigation, local authorities in a wealthy Houston suburb have whitewashed the death of former Enron vice chairman J. Clifford Baxter, calling it a suicide. Baxter, 43, was found shot to death in his Mercedes Benz in the early hours of Friday morning, January 25, near his home in Sugar Land.

Baxter’s body was discovered inside his Mercedes Benz, which was parked in a turnaround on a street near his home. Officials in Sugar Land moved swiftly to label Baxter’s death a suicide. Local Justice of the Peace Jim Richard initially declared that Baxter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and no further inquiry was required. But within hours he reversed himself, citing the intense public interest in the death, and ordered an autopsy.

Harris County Medical Examiner Joye Carter conducted the autopsy and found the cause of death to be suicide by a “penetrating gunshot to the head.” The weapon was a .38 caliber revolver which was found in Baxter’s car, next to his body.

Neither the perfunctory official probe nor the media coverage has addressed the obvious suspicions aroused by the death of a critically important witness in the investigation into the criminal activities at Enron, the biggest corporate fraud in American history. Baxter quit as vice chairman of the company last May, after reportedly come into conflict with other top executives over the phony accounting gimmicks used to plunder billions of dollars.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jan2002/enro-j28.shtml



------------

Enron's J Clifford Baxter: A profile

Prior to his death last week, J Clifford Baxter was for many a living embodiment of the American dream.

By the age of 43, he was a retired millionaire, with a mansion in an affluent suburb of Houston, a yacht and a young family.



Mr Baxter was depressed before he died
His vast wealth had enabled him in May 2001 to leave behind a seemingly successful career at the energy giant Enron, where he was chief strategy officer and vice chairman.

Perhaps he would lived a life of moneyed leisure for years to come, had Enron not collapsed last December, dragging down the reputations of its top executives with it.

After Enron's fall, Mr Baxter was named in a shareholder lawsuit, which alleged that 29 people had capitalised from selling Enron stock before the company collapsed.

J. Clifford Baxter

Born in Amityville, New York
Graduated from New York University
Captain in the Air Force (1980-1985)
Received MBA from Columbia University (1987)
Brief stint as investment banker
Joined Enron in 1991
Retired from Enron in May 2001
He was also subpoenaed by a Congressional committee investigating the Enron affair and was expected to give evidence.

Days before his suicide, he reportedly broke down in tears while talking on the telephone to former business associate about Enron.

He was also described by journalists that visited his home as dishevelled and unshaven.

Friends of Mr Baxter said he was depressed that he might have to testify about the role his colleagues had played in the collapse of Enron.

A whistle-blower?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1784945.stm

[aquart]

62. Sugarland, Delay's district with the amenable examiner.

I remember.

[Jose Diablo]

67. I wonder if poppy's fingers are on this n/t

[0007]

80. You needn't say more....Hmmmm Delay's country, 'eh?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

55. The true significance of this is if it can get Gropenfuhrer voted out of

office and kill his presidential ambitions in the nest. CA will go for Kerry anyway, but if this can help some of the other victimized west coast states swing our way so much the better.

[NashVegas]

56. Just a Little Stroll Down Memory Lane

http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript103_full_print.html

NOW segment with Curt Hebert.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=12873&forum=DCForumID35

Enron timeline by Barrett808

http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID12/12919.html#20

More info from Judy.

[bvar22]

57. Somewhere in California.....

....someone has died as a direct result of the rolling blackouts....maybe an elderly person who succumbed to heat because of no AC....or other scenarios due to the willful withholding of power to artificially drive up prices. If so, then these greedy scumbags should be prosecuted.

Does anyone have info on such a death, or a death where a lack of power was a contributing factor? (I'm heading to Google)

[Whoa_Nelly]

61. Here ya go!

Just take your pick from any of these google links!

The link is soooo long, just go to google and enter:
california rolling blackouts deaths

PS Would appreciate someone pointing me in the direction of the site where a loooong link can be modified! THX O8)

[Beetwasher]

59. The Return of ENRON!! The BEAST Is Back Baby! With A Vengeance!!

This time it's personal....

I like the timing of this...

[0007]

91. "Barnacle Bill the Sailor"

Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
Said the fair young maiden!

Well, it's only me from over the sea,
Said Barnacle Bill the Sailor,
I'm all lit up like a Christmas tree,
Said Barnacle Bill the Sailor.
I'll sail the sea until I croak,
Drink my whiskey, swear, and smoke,
But I can't swim a bloody stroke,
Said Barnacle Bill the Sailor.

Tell me when we soon shall wed,
Tell me when we soon shall wed,
Tell me when we soon shall wed,
Said the fair young maiden.

Uh-uh!
I got me a wife in every port,
Said Barnacle Bill the Sailor.
The handsome gals is what I court,
Said Barnacle Bill the Sailor.
With my false heart and flattering tongue
I courts 'em all both old and young,
I courts 'em all, but marries none,
Said Barnacle Bill the Sailor.

So good-bye,
Good-bye,
So long, toots,
I'll see you again!

[nolabels]

94. ENRON really never left they just changed names and a few players

The ten 10b scam with..... Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) - Corporate Profile
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/corp_profiles/public_service_gats/corp...
is a classic example.

http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/issues/mokhiberweissman/corpsdifferent012701.html
Corporations: Different Than You and Me
By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

Jan 24, 2001
(snip)
Companies aggressively portray themselves as part of the community (every community), a friendly neighbor. If they succeed in that effort at self-characterization, they know what follows: a dramatically diminished likelihood of external constraints on their operations. If a corporation is part of the community, then it is entitled to the same freedoms available to others, and the same presumption of non-interference that society appropriately affords real people.

Especially because corporations work so aggressively and intentionally to obscure the point, it is crucial to draw attention to the corporation as an institution with unique powers, motivations and attributes, and to point to the basic differences between human beings and the socially constituted and authorized institutions called corporations.

Here are 10 differences between corporations and real people:

1. Corporations have perpetual life.
2. Corporations can be in two or more places at the same time.
3. Corporations cannot be jailed.
4. Corporations have no conscience or sense of shame.
5. Corporations have no sense of altruism, nor willingness to adjust their behavior to protect future generations.
6. Corporations pursue a single-minded goal, profit, and are typically legally prohibited from seeking other ends.
7. There are no limits, natural or otherwise, to corporations' potential size.
8. Because of their political power, they are able to define or at very least substantially affect, the civil and criminal regulations that define the boundaries of permissible behavior. Virtually no individual criminal has such abilities.
9. Corporations can combine with each other, into bigger and more powerful entities.
10. Corporations can divide themselves, shedding subsidiaries or affiliates that are controversial, have brought them negative publicity or pose liability threats.

These unique attributes give corporations extraordinary power, and makes the challenge of checking their power all the more difficult. The institutions are much more powerful than individuals, which makes all the more frightening their single-minded profit maximizing efforts.

Corporations have no conscience, or has been famously said, no soul. As a result, they exercise little self-restraint. Exacerbating the problem, because they have no conscience, many of the sanctions we impose on individuals - not just imprisonment, but the more important social norms of shame and community disapproval - have limited relevance to or impact on corporations.
(snip)

[Alpharetta]

63. What is the current state of Enron settlement w/ California?

any link to a story of the settlement would be appreciated, along w/ any mention of Schwarzenegger's involvement in that settlement.

the status of that settlement? has Enron actually paid California anything? I thought they had to sell their pipelines as their last assets of value. Where does California fit in the list of creditors?

[catzies]

73. Those are all excellent questions. I wish I knew too.

It appears there are multiple settlements with multiple parties.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or "Commission") approved a settlement agreement among El Paso Electric Company ("El Paso"), the California Attorney General ("Attorney General"), the California Electricity Oversight Board (together with the Attorney General, the "California State Parties") and the Commission Trial Staff ("Trial Staff") that is expected to directly benefit California consumers. The settlement agreement resolves an investigation by Trial Staff begun in August 2002 into allegations that El Paso, Enron Power Marketing, Inc. ("Enron Power"), and certain of Enron Power's affiliates had "engaged in actions adversely affecting prices and markets in the West; violated open access transmission requirements; failed to file jurisdictional rate schedules or contracts; disposed of (through ceding control) jurisdictional assets without prior Commission approval; and failed to timely notify the Commission of material changes to the circumstances pursuant to which they were granted market-based rate authority."

To ensure that California ratepayers directly benefit from the settlement, El Paso agrees to pay $15.5 million in refunds and to a suspension of its market-based authority for over two years (December 1, 2002 through December 31, 2004). The refund is payable to the California Department of Water Resources' ("CDWR") Electric Power Fund. CDWR administers this fund, and the refund compensates CDWR for paying above-market prices for electricity.

The Commission approved a second settlement that provides California ratepayers with an immediate benefit of approximately $11 million, plus future benefits of between $41-47 million in the form of reduced prices that Southern California Edison Company ("SCE") shall pay for energy sold by eight wind facilities affiliated with Enron Corporation ("Enron"). In October 2002, the Commission set for hearing the issue of whether Zond Windsystems Holding Company, Victory Garden Phase IV Partnership, and Sky River Partnership failed to conform with the representations presented in their respective 1997 applications for re-certification as qualifying facilities ("QFs"), i.e., whether these Enron affiliates actually transferred their ownership interests in the facilities, and thus whether those QF certifications could be relied on. The Commission also set for hearing the issue of whether each facility actually satisfied the Commission's ownership requirements for QF status following Enron's merger with Portland General Corporation. SCE also filed a complaint alleging violations of the Commission's QF ownership regulations by other Enron-affiliated QFs. The settlement resolves both proceedings. The remedy provides ratepayers, on a current value basis, approximately what the Commission has in the past determined to be the appropriate remedy for failure to maintain QF status.

from http://www.dwt.com/practc/energy/htpres/08-03_HotTopicsCA.htm

[belab13]

65. If there ever was a reason for revoking a corporate charter

screwing an entire state out of 12 bills should be enough.


Isn't enron re-emerging from ch 11. I say bury the whole operation!

[KAZ]

70. They probably killed people, plain and simple. See post 52. n/t

This is way beyond revocation.

[rfkrocks]

66. Corporate swine destroy the fabric of this land

my God-everyday we suffer under this GOP plague of greedy souless bastards-to the frigging polls comrades in November and take our country back!

[leesa]

68. Yes, and we knew about this shortly after it happened

Are they going to do something about it this time other than to say "shocking behavior!"
It's the reason we are stuck with the blithering idiot Ahhhnold.

[hunter]

72. I'm feeling some traction here... very good.

And it may be a two-for-one kind of deal.

I would very much like to see Bush and Schwarzenegger out of office.

Who will squeal first? George or Arnold?

[roguevalley]

74. I want these wheezers identified and shamed. I want someone to twist

their nuts until they turn state's evidence. All of them in jail. Now.

[TheWebHead]

76. Holy FU** MoveOn or Kerry has to make a commercial on those tapes

The Bush remarks intermixed with his pledge to keep hands off caps would be just pricesless to ram down viewers' throats.... If Bush can spend $50 million on the "I actually voted for the $80 billion before I voted against it", we need to do likewise with this soundbite!

[TryingToWarnYou]

78. Does this seem odd?

It just seems really convenient that these guys were all just sitting around shooting the poo. Whats the context of the recording and how did it come to be?

I have no doubt Enron was ripping off "Grandma Millie", but all the leading questions in the recording and the replies seem a bit convenient for my tastes.

[rfkrocks]

79. Criminals say and do the dumbest things

Think for example of the Nixon tapes

[pschoeb]

93. My Guess on why it was recorded

I beleive these were Enron energy traders, When I worked for an IT dept at Chicago Board of Trade all traders were required to be recorded, The reason is if there was a dispute by a client who placed a trade the tape could be reviewed to see if the trader or the client had made the mistake. I assume energy trading has the same FTC requirements.

Patrick Schoeb

[Claire Beth]

82. interesting!

Ken Lay should be prison.

[dryan]

84. Enron Story

I hope that this tape is not too little too late. I don't live in California, but Enron owned Florida Gas and a lot of people that work there have lost a lot of money, although the company is still viable. I have a couple questions though and then a personal comment:

Why was this phone call taped, was that standard at Enron? How did CBS get it? (If that was stated on the show I don't remember it.) Is there anyway to determine who is on the tape--on the show they just said Employee #1, #2, etc.

If there is to be an investigation, I think they should wait until Bush is out of office; I do not trust this administration's Justice Department to investigate and adjudicate this case as thoroughly as it should. The fact that ken lay was seriously being considered for Secretary of Energy should tell you something.

On a personal note: folks, I've worked in all kinds of industries and businesses, mostly with men some of whom were very worldly and I have never heard men (or women) talk like like that in business. Call me old fashioned, but I couldn't believe it. I am sure their moms and dads are proud! Maybe that's how they do business in Texas.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

86. Here's the videofile, in case it hasn't been posted

can't get it to paste....it's available at the CBS site posted above.

[qwertyMike]

87. Was all over the CNN moning show

Treating it a VERY SERIOUS

[yellowcanine]

88. Herr Gropinator has some 'splainen to do.

Why would Arnold meet with Ken Lay? I do believe this one could end up involving a Special Prosecutor.

[Nomad559]

89. Enron Traders Caught On Tape - CBS Video

Streaming Video
http://63.123.44.172:80/7/1466/8488/v012110/cbscomstor.download.akamai.com/8605/cbsnews/2004/06/01/video620639.wmv

[Naipes]

90. I duped this in a different thread...sorry. Here's a link.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Collapsed energy trader Enron manipulated electricity prices to its own advantage during California's 2001 energy crisis...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1519&e=5&u=/afp/us_enron_justice

[David Zephyr]

92. This Story Must Always Be Linked To This Story.

Enron E-Mails Show Arnold Met With Ken Lay During Energy Crisis


"Santa Monica, CA -- Internal Enron e-mails confirm that Arnold Schwarzenegger was among a small group of executives who met with Lay at the posh Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in May of 2001, in the midst of California's energy crisis. View the e-mails. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which obtained the e-mails, is calling on Schwarzenegger to acknowledge the meetings and disclose the information that was presented and discussed. The meeting with Enron occurred ten days after rolling blackouts darkened California for two consecutive days; Schwarzenegger has previously said that he does not remember such a meeting.

"'You don't meet with America's most well-known corporate crook in the middle of California's biggest financial disaster and not remember,' said FTCR's senior consumer advocate Douglas Heller. 'Mr. Schwarzenegger should come clean about what happened at that meeting and if he shares Ken Lay's views on energy regulation.'"

"The documents provide a list of invitees to the hastily arranged meeting and a list of those who actually attended. Only eleven of the 45 invitees attended, including Schwarzenegger. The meeting was meant to be an opportunity to gain business community support for Enron's "comprehensive solution" to the energy crisis. In one e-mail, Enron's VP of Public Relations wrote: "We'd like to position this meeting as an insider's conversation of what's going on with the energy situation. This meeting should be for principals only." (emphasis in original)"

Full Story:

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/utilities/pr/pr003708.php3

[nolabels]

95. This too

A thread from a while back

Enron caught on tape urging "screwing Nevada Power"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=426825

:kick:

[mountainvue]

96. Can someone help

me in an argument with a Freeper that Enron was all Clinton's fault? This guy is making my blood boil.

[dansolo]

97. When does the Supreme Court decide on the Cheney Energy meetings?

Maybe this will allow renewed pressure to force Scalia to recuse himself. Or perhaps this latest revelation will make this matter so toxic that even if Scalia stays on, we may pick up another vote from another justice.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

98. I'm having trouble believing this.

Maybe I'm just being naive, but those quotes sound more like the villians' lines in an R-rated Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon than something a real person would say. CBS may indeed have gotten that tape from Enron, but that doesn't mean it's not a fake.

[Logansquare]

99. I guess you've never met traders before

I used to work near the Merc in Chicago. There are some who are decent folks, but a lot are cocky, foul-mouthed, and positive they are superior to ordinary schmoes like us.

[Nevernose]

100. CBS got the tape from the Dept. of Justice (n/t)

[ThoughtCriminal]

102. Maybe not dierctly from DOJ

I get the impression that CBS got them from the Snohomish Public Utility District, which had obtained them from the DOJ.

[mbperrin]

101. I worked in the energy industry for seven years

and if you could have seen and heard the joy from figuring out how to falsely add charges to company invoices (including shipping charges that never were and labor that never happened), then you would see how typical this attitude is.

[kikiek]

104. The DOJ tried to stop their release..

and so did the Enron people. Some have already gone to court. They played some different ones tonight. Why isn't this going around to all the other stations? CBS has my loyalty as long as they keep uncovering the crap this admin is hiding.

[nolabels]

105. CBS is just trying to cultivate a group of viewers (victims)

(snip)
“The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.”
— William Colby, former Director of the CIA

"During a war, news should be given out for instruction rather than information."
- Joseph Goebbels

"We live in a dirty and dangerous world. There are some things the general public does not need to know and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets, and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows."
-- Katharine Graham (now deceased owner of the Washington Post) at a 1988 speech at CIA headquarters
http://www.namebase.org/davis.html

"Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind." –US General William Westmoreland, Commander in Vietnam

"There has never been a war in human history that wasn't based on lies, deceit and deception. The only reason for watching CNN is to witness a fraudulent cover story as it is being unfolded step by step."
- Ken McCarthy http://www.brasscheck.com

"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominate political mythology."
- Michael Parenti http://www.michaelparenti.org/

"The de facto censorship which leaves so many Americans functionally illiterate about the history of US foreign affairs may be all the more effective because it is not official, heavy-handed or conspiratorial, but woven artlessly into the fabric of education and media. No conspiracy is needed. The editors of Reader's Digest and U.S. News and World Report do not need to meet covertly with the man from NBC in an FBI safe-house to plan next month's stories and programs; for the simple truth is that these men would not have reached the positions they occupy if they themselves had not all been guided through the same tunnel of camouflaged history and emerged with the same selective memory and conventional wisdom."
- from Killing Hope, Ù.S. Military and CIA Interventions since WWII, by William Blum, p. 19, Common Courage Press, 1995.
(snip)
http://www.oilempire.us/media.html

[kikiek]

106. I don't doubt that for a minute, and it goes further

All programming is for idiots. We have all been dummied down. The worst violator is Murdoch. Others have followed suit.