Californians Unite!

Wil Wheaton published Now I’m Pissed, a raw response from a Californian to Enron. It seems Enron was responsible for the collapse of California’s energy market. And deliberately so. They exploited every loophole they could find, with cute-sounding strategies like “Death Star” and “Get Shorty”. Recent memos found in Enron documents, are a “smoking gun”. The SFGate’s article Enron memo describes how traders drove up state’s power prices says:

“Referring to a strategy called “Death Star” by Enron traders, the lawyers wrote, “The net effect of these transactions is that Enron gets paid for moving energy to relieve congestion without actually moving any energy or relieving any congestion.””

According to Consumer Watchdog, State GOP Sought Donations From Enron. Even the governor of California accepted nearly $120,000 from Enron. This would almost ensure that the deregulation that Enron would take advantage of would happen.

“Although the party reported the contributions as required by law, the documents detail a relationship between Republican leaders and the now-failed energy giant that neither the company nor the state GOP has ever publicly acknowledged. Indeed, during this spring’s primary campaign, the Republican candidates for governor all criticized Gov. Gray Davis for accepting nearly $120,000 from Enron.”

California wasn’t the only state on the take from Enron, letting “Kenny Boy” (remember? Bush’s buddy) grease the wheels to his own personal fortune. OpenSecrets.Org has a list of donations by Enron to other members of our government. On the left side are many more breakdowns for those truly interested. The clearinghouse for Enron information can be found at EnronGate and more numbers are available at LobbyWatch.

For all of the rolling blackouts California endured, all so Enron executives and investors could squirrel away millions of dollars, they should be able to exact their own revenge on Kenny Boy. Remember, though, that Enron was the darling of the stock market. You see, if you spray enough donations and contributions (read: bribes) around, no one investigates or questions, they just say “keep it coming”. What about investors in Enron stock who bought, benefitted and cashed out, all the while having gotten rich off of the misery Enron caused to others? Is there some lack of accountability in our stock markets? Is there any accountability at all? Didn’t those investors make their money from crime (whether knowingly, unknowingly, or deliberately ignored) just as much as Enron executives did?

Let’s go see what stocks the Rumsfelds, Bush’s and Cheney’s all dumped last Summer. Perhaps the Bin Ladens also made a killing there (if you’ll pardon the phrase), just like all these folks do as co-owners of the Carlyle Group, a major defense-industry firm, who are all raking it in thanks to the latest U.S. debacle, the War on Terror.