[Carry_Okie]

But is "churning" illegal?

Not unless it involves communication between companies. Then it's collusion.

The real market manipulation was what created the shortage of generating capacity that made these games even possible. It took twenty years to accomplish and when "deregulation" was initiated it merely turned into the payoff. TURN, the Sierra Club, and the NRDC are the key players who funded and organized the NIMBY groups that prevented plant construction. Bryson was there all the way along. So far, I have not found detailed information re what Gray Davis was doing after he left Jerry Brown's Administration and before he became Controller besides holding office as an assemblyman.

[snopercod]

It has been reported over and over that these "round-trip" trades had zero effect on electricity (or natural gas) prices in California, and some have reported that they actually have had a beneficial effect. I believe that the main purpose of these wash sales was to boost the "income" figures of the parent firms to enhance their stock price. This might be a securities crime, but not anti-trust.

Collusion? Is that what they call one company dealing with another these days?

Aside: I am feeling like a murderer today. I had to cut down a 60-year-old hardwood tree to clear a window to the Dish Network satellite at 119 degrees which carries Fox News Channel.

It was a beautiful tree, and I plan to haul it (in pieces) to the local sawmill. That way I can build a bookshelf out of it in a couple years, and it will be remembered always...