Years ago when author Arthur C. Clarke wrote about this concept I was intregued because it seemed a most reasonable thing to do. It seems now that others agree too.

After Clarke wrote "The Fountains of Paradise," which included the space elevator concept, he was asked when such devices might actually come into use. His response: "Probably about 50 years after everyone quits laughing."
  11:18:21 AM    comment

Enron and the Two Cows Philosophy:

With Enron, you have two cows. You borrow 80% of the forward value of the two cows from your bank, then buy another cow with 5% down and the rest financed by the seller on a note, bearing interest at twice the prime, callable if the market cap of your publicly listed company, whose stock you've put up as collateral, goes below $20 billion. You sell the three cows to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at a second bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated unit, so that you get four cows back, plus a tax exemption for five cows. To continue: The milk rights of six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Islands firm secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who sells the rights to seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report trumpets that the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. All of the above transactions are cheerfully blessed by your independent auditors, who, of course, served as consultants on said transactions, but only after the fact.

You're all set now to disclose, via press release and conference call with analysts, that Enron, a major owner of cows, will begin trading cows over the Web. Analysts proclaim Enron the prototypical New Economy company, bull the shares to the moon, enabling you to sell huge gobs of the stock and use part of the proceeds to buy a top-of-the-line shredding machine.

Lifted from fuzzyraygun.com

  10:39:14 AM    comment

More on How Energy Deregulation Hits Home

NStar accused of skimping on maintenance to boost profits

iSay - Reminincent of the same results when the airlines were deregulated.

By DIANNE FEINSTEIN
Dianne Feinstein, a U.S. senator from California, is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
January 30 2002

Although prices for energy in California and the West have mostly returned to normal, the Enron bankruptcy continues to raise questions about the level of influence that energy companies had over the Bush administration during the California energy crisis and the formulation of President Bush's energy policy.

At this time last year, I wrote the first of three letters to the president requesting a meeting to discuss California's dire energy situation. These requests were denied. During this period, however, energy executives had access to senior administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney.

On the day I sent my first letter, Jan. 20, 2001, California was experiencing its sixth straight day of Stage 3 energy emergencies, meaning that energy reserves were less than 1.5% above demand. The streak would last 34 days and would involve several economically crippling and life-threatening blackouts. During this month, the average price for electricity was about 10 times higher than the typical price for energy in January. Natural gas prices in Southern California were six times higher than they were at the same time in 2000.

Meanwhile, energy companies--including ones that would help to craft the administration's energy policy--were reporting earnings for the year. Enron and its affiliates' earnings grew 97% in 2000 from 1999; Duke and its affiliates' earnings were up 226%; Reliant and its affiliates' earnings increased by 166%; and Williams and its affiliates' earnings grew 127%.

Letters to Salon.com

California's electricity crisis could have been avoided if profiteering power-generating companies hadn't blocked further deregulation.

A short three years ago the price of a gallon of home heating oil jumped by more than 80% in NYC.
  8:36:17 AM    comment