Government regulation?

I'm just glad they know what's important, aren't you?

The Fleecing of Westar (and Kansas): 1, 2, 3, Part II

News from a front page article in The Kansas City Star today tells "After nearly eight years and two trials, federal prosecutors on Friday dismissed all charges against former Westar Energy executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake." I was stunned. Holy cow. These two all but knocked down your Grandmother, raped her and stole her money and here they are, getting off, scott-free. Truly, who says crime doesn't pay? And why do I say this? As you may have read here on an earlier post, look at just a short, abbreviated list of what these two did while at Westar, as shown by The New York Times: “During Wittig’s brief tenure with the company he managed to extract more than $25,000,000 in compensation and benefits,” the indictment read. “During Lake’s brief tenure with the Company he managed to extract more than $7,000,000 in compensation and benefits. During this same tenure Wittig and Lake presided over a company whose stock prices went from $44.00 per share to less than $9.00 per share, whose [energy] rates soared, whose debt increased to more than $3,000,000,000, and whose future was poised on the brink of bankruptcy.” Again, keep in mind, this is only a partial list. So, folks, if you're a Kansas electric rate-payer or a Westar stock owner from this time frame, the fact is, you just got screwed. And you got screwed big time. For all the rest of us who are simply law-abiding citizens, well, forget about all that. Crime does pay, ladies and gentlemen. Just make sure, when you do it, you go after HUGE amounts at the top of a corporation--not that little stuff you get holding up a Quickie Mart. Try to have a great weekend, y'all. Link to original posts: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/20/2164274/charges-against-former-westar.html http://moravings.blogspot.com/2010/07/great-nyt-article-on-enron-of-kansas-or.html http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/what-happened-at-the-enron-of-kansas/?hp

What we're fighting right now

Dick Cheney's still at it.

Dick thinks all his papers and all his emails are his, you see.

Dick doesn't play well with others.

Dick wants to make sure that you and I--taxpayers and voters--don't get the mistaken idea that he was working for OUR government or on OUR tax dollar.

All those pesky materials that could finger him for oh, say, felonies of one kind or another? He wants them. He wants to take them with him.

From the White House.

From the Vice President's mansion.

From our government.

Even as we speak.

Those Enron papers the government still wants to read about?

Fugedaboudit.

The real hoot here, too, is that his friends over at his pal-zy Supreme Court are the ones who get to decide if he keeps 'em, too.

And I'll tell you, they'd better not agree with him.

This administration has trashed too much of our Constitution and this country to get away with more of this crap, I'll tell you.

That's not where it ends, though, either.

Dick is also fighting the GAO--the Governement Accountability Office--of all groups. He doesn't want his papers from his secret deals with Enron to be made public, of course.

And why would you, when what they came up with in private brought about incredible, cushy deals for the very energy companies that were there in the room?

So it ain't over, folks, not by a long shot. We can't "breathe easy", what with the Bush Administration being almost over.

There are still battles to be fought against these people and battles to be won.

We can't have them savage our country any more than they already have.

Awareness and some kind of action are what's required, even now.

Original links here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2871869/Dick-Cheney-fighting-to-keep-Enron-papers-secret.html

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-06/2007-06-22-voa16.cfm?CFID=82953120&CFTOKEN=53401419

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/washington/22cheney.html

http://www.judicialwatch.org/cheneycase.shtml

Sent out earlier today

An open letter to all airline customers:

Last week, crude oil hit an all-time high of $146, and the skyrocketing cost of fuel is impacting our customers, our employees, the communities we serve, and the economy as a whole. United, and the majority of other major U.S. airlines, are asking our most loyal customers to join us in pushing for legislation to add more transparency and disclosure in the oil markets. The following is an open letter from the leaders of the U.S. airline industry.



Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now.

For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem.

We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.

Robert Fornaro Chairman, President and CEO AirTran Airways
Bill Ayer Chairman, President and CEO Alaska Airlines, Inc.
Gerard J. Arpey Chairman, President and CEO American Airlines, Inc.
Lawrence W. Kellner Chairman and CEO Continental Airlines, Inc.
Richard Anderson CEO Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Mark B. Dunkerley President and CEO Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.
Dave Barger CEO JetBlue Airways Corporation
Timothy E. Hoeksema Chairman, President and CEO Midwest Airlines
Douglas M. Steenland President and CEO Northwest Airlines, Inc.

Gary Kelly Chairman and CEO Southwest Airlines Co.
Glenn F. Tilton Chairman, President and CEO United Airlines, Inc.
Douglas Parker Chairman and CEO US Airways Group, Inc.
_________________________________________________

This, campers, follows what I wrote about a week ago, on the unlimited oil speculation that's now possible, because the American government took off regulation of oil speculation back in December, 2000, thanks to the brainiacs of Enron.

And have you seen the TV ad from, with and by T. Boone Pickens, the old, Texas oil multi-millionaire who--even he--says we should get off oil and into alternative energy sources like wind power, etc? That's pretty incredible. Think about it: for one, he's old and seemingly not likely to change. Second, he's from Texas, of all places and third and finally, he made all his money in the oil fields and even that old coot thinks it's time America got off our oil fix.

I tell you, there's hope for us yet.

(Special thanks to Tim Taylor for forwarding this letter from United Airlines to me!)
P.S. Since posting this, I've received the same email from 2 or 3 more friends. Let's hope people are contacting their Representatives!

The George W. Bush Administration vs. The American People

Did you hear this today on NPR? Yeah, more proof of just how great a job George W. Bush and his pals are doing for--no, to--the American People.

You know? When I was younger, I knew there was a part of the government that was fighting for us. There was the part regulating big business. There was the part having corporations to keep pollution to a minimum.

No more.

Not since George Bush got elected in 2000.

Check this out.

In December, 2000, the Enron Corporation--yeah, no kidding, THOSE GUYS--recommended that the Bush Administration DEREGULATE the oil speculation markets. It is now, technically considered a "dark" market. That is, we don't know who's speculating on or in the oil markets, we don't know how, we don't know what they're doing, nothing. All thanks to those geniuses at Enron. Oh, and the White House. Dick Cheney. George Walker Bush. All of 'em. et al.

Prior to 2000 and this "Enron Clause", as it is now referred to, THE UNITED STATES REGULATED THE OIL INDUSTRY AND THIS SPECULATION FOR 78 YEARS. No kidding. For all that time, it was that important. Once we put the foxes in charge of the chicken house, it was all over.

Now does it make any sense why oil is over $130.00 a barrel?

In this same radio show, it was speculated that oil would likely fall to between $60.00 to $80.00 per barrel WITHIN A MONTH if we again regulated the oil speculation markets.

So the question was, do you want to do this with a deep, painful recession, that hurts millions of people around the globe, over time, to reduce the price of oil or do you want to do this more logically, with regulation, over about a month?

Tough question, eh?