Some of the Dumber Guys in the Room

Today Enron founder, Ken Lay, and CEO, Jeffrey Skilling were finally found guilty of fraud, evasion and a litany of other charges.   Enron money whiz, Lou Pai, might have been included in these hearings if he weren't the genius who left the company early with 270,000,000 dollars and a new stripper wife.  So would have Cliff Baxter but he shot himself shortly after the company's collapse. 

If you haven't seen the Academy Award nominated documentary "Enron:  The Smartest Guys in the Room" then you must.  It's amazing what you can get away with when you have friends in high places.   Former Cali Governor Pete Wilson let Enron deregulate the state's power.  This gave the company the power to turn off the juice thus making electricity a rare commodity therefore raising it's price.  A lot.  Here's a little Enron trader phone conversation about the rolling blackouts in California.  Now let's wax nostalgic...

Enron trader:  "If you took down the steamer, how long would it take to get it back up?"

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

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

And here's another Enron trader conversation.  This guy is upset because Washington state and California are trying to recover some of the money lost due to Enron's power manipulation.

Enron trader 1:  "They're f------g taking all the money back from you guys?   All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?"

Enron trader 2:  "Yeah, grandma Millie, man"

Enron Trader 1: "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 these idiots kept talking AND recording (why do these corporate morons always email and record their nefarious activities?) their hopes for Bush to get elected in 2000.

Enron trader 3: "It'd be great. I'd love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy."

Enron trader 4: "When this election comes Bush will f------g whack this s--t, man. He won't play this price-cap b------t."

And they were right...Here's Mr. Bush on May 29, 2001:

"We will not take any action that makes California's problems worse and that's why I oppose price caps."   (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is responsible for the stability of the nation's--thus the word 'Federal' in it's title--power supply.  FERC's Chairman Patrick Wood was recommended to Bush by this man!)

Enron's eventual fallout:  20,000 people lost their jobs, around twice that their retirement funds.  America's oldest accounting firm, Arthur Anderson, collapsed sending 30,000 more to unemployment.  Bankers from Merrill Lynch to Citi found themselves in hot water and India now has a huge power facility that's rusting away in the wind. California went way into the hole and decided to go further by ousting Gov. Gray Davis and spending another 50 million on a special election that included candidates Gary Coleman and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

I found that both CBS and NPR have the actual phone recordings.