Lawrence Solomon: Enron's other secret

Financial Post ^ | May 30,2009 | Lawrence Solomon

[kathsua]

...Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, keen to engineer an encore, saw his opportunity when Bill Clinton and Al Gore were inaugurated as president and vice-president in 1993. To capitalize on Al Gore’s interest in global warming, Enron immediately embarked on a massive lobbying effort to develop a trading system for carbon dioxide, working both the Clinton administration and Congress. Political contributions and Enron-funded analyses flowed freely, all geared to demonstrating a looming global catastrophe if carbon dioxide emissions weren’t curbed. An Enron-funded study that dismissed the notion that calamity could come of global warming, meanwhile, was quietly buried...

[kathsua]

I haven't seen this posted here yet. This proves global warming is nothing more than a scam directed by corrupt businesses wanting to steal from the rest of us.

[a fool in paradise]

...Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, keen to engineer an encore, saw his opportunity when Bill Clinton and Al Gore were inaugurated as president and vice-president in 1993. To capitalize on Al Gore’s interest in global warming, Enron immediately embarked on a massive lobbying effort to develop a trading system for carbon dioxide, working both the Clinton administration and Congress. Political contributions and Enron-funded analyses flowed freely, all geared to demonstrating a looming global catastrophe if carbon dioxide emissions weren’t curbed. An Enron-funded study that dismissed the notion that calamity could come of global warming, meanwhile, was quietly buried...

[marlon]

But, but, but I thought the whole Enron thing was Bush’s fault. You know he had a nickname for Ken Lay so that proves he was involved with insider info on Enron’s dealings. Why the State Run Media told us this was the case so it must be true.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[subterfuge]

Proves it? Ha!! Why just the other day an ant died at my house. GLOBAL WARMING!!!

Seriously. I just sent the whole article to everyone I know. thanks.

[M203M4]

Yet another example exposing the fact that the largest corporations lobby FOR regulations, not against them. Once entrenched, large corporations view the free market with pure hatred - they crave fascism.

From pharmaceutical companies lobbying for more regulations (the classic example being Eli Lily lobbying successfully for the creation of the FDA and for the mandating and regulation of prescriptions), to Enron promoting "carbon economics" and climate alarmism, to some of the bigger banks cheerleading enhanced market regulations, anyone paying attention can see that a small number of the most powerful corporations continue to lobby for means of moving beyond creating wealth via the model of voluntary exchange, to instead a model different from mob-style extortion only in that the muscle is provided at taxpayer expense by the government.

Their interests are represented by both parties: faux progressives like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd among Democrats, and by the likes of "moderate" Republicans like Norm Coleman, Arlene Specter, Christine Todd Whitman, and others.

The telltale sign of a corporatist (anti-communism, but also anti-free-market) is being between cold and neutral to taxes (cold mostly to things like inheritance taxes and taxes on dividends, and wishy-washy otherwise) while being warm to (and/or cosponsoring) government regulations. The GOP has its share - many are also "neocons" ("pro-FDR, pro-Kennedy, pro-Johnson, pro-Wilson Republicans").

[SaveTheChief]

SECOND REQUEST:

Please remove my name from your ping lists.

Thank you.

[Delacon]

Bttt. Big fan of Lawrence Solomon here. I have posted his deniers series here on FR.

[Delacon]

The next time some lib says some skeptical scientist is in the pocket of “big business”, tell them that most big business is on board for cap and trade because cap in trade will help them and hurt their smaller, less politically connected competition.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Given all the CRU madness out there, this is probably a good thread to revisit, no? :-)