The Rush Limbaugh LIVE Radio Thread - Friday, March 20, 2009

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Enron backed Algore and the ‘RATS big time. Rush’s caller is deluded.

Enron: Putting things into Perspective (Global Warming)
Frontiers of Freedom ^ | January 25, 2002 | George C. Landrith
Posted on 04/06/2007 2:12:26 PM EDT by Shermy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1813207/posts

Enron, the once powerful energy trading corporation, is mired in financial ruin and scandal. Thousands of employees lost not only their jobs, but also their retirement accounts which were invested almost entirely in now worthless Enron stock. Others whose retirement accounts held stock in the once robust Fortune 10 company are also among those hit hard by the collapse. On Capitol Hill, it seems that just about everyone is scheduling hearings. Much of the nation and all of Washington, D.C. are agog that as much as $6 billion were lost.

All of this sounds pretty serious, but the reality is that the economic devastation could have been a lot worse. Here’s how. A number of energy companies, including Enron, were strong supporters of the Kyoto Protocol (aka Global Warming Treaty) and international emissions trading. Enron and others believed that they would profit handsomely from the Clinton-Gore Administration’s infatuation with the Kyoto treaty’s command and control regulatory regime.

Enron envisioned itself being a key player in the new international trading system. It would make a percentage of every trade it transacted. Additionally, since the Kyoto Protocol would reduce and eventually close down coal-fired power plants and encourage the use of gas-fired plants, Enron saw another chance to profit since much of its business was in natural gas.

In 1997, the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to advise the Clinton-Gore administration that it should not enter into any agreement to ration energy or harm the US economy. It is extraordinarily rare that everyone in the Senate agrees on something. How often do Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy, Jesse Helms and Trent Lott all agree?

That same year — 1997 — Enron officials met with Clinton and Gore at the White House to promote the Kyoto Protocol and emissions trading.

When the negotiations over the global warming treaty were breaking down and it appeared as if no agreement would be reached, Al Gore flew to Japan to personally accede to whatever unreasonable demands were made. The terms he agreed to were worse than most had ever imagined. However, Enron and others who hoped to benefit from this new regulatory scheme were pleased. In fact, an Enron internal memo boasted that the Kyoto Protocol would “do more to promote Enron’s business than almost any other regulatory initiative....”

Unfortunately, we live in an era in which many businesses hope to succeed not by producing better products or by being more efficient, but by getting government to impose special interest regulations designed to give them an advantage in the marketplace. The problem with this approach is that someone has to pay the cost. In the case of the Kyoto Protocol, the cost was to be imposed on every American. We would have had to pay more for everything from groceries, to fuel, to clothing, to heating and cooling.

If the Kyoto Protocol were ratified and in full force, experts estimate that Americans could lose between $100 billion and $400 billion — each year. Additionally, between 1 and 3.5 million jobs could be lost. That means that each household could lose an average of up to $6,000 each year. That is a lot to ask of Americans so that large energy companies could profit from this regulatory scheme. Moreover, a cost of $400 billion annually makes Enron’s current one-time loss of $6 billion look like pocket change.

The point is not to minimize the difficulty and economic pain that Enron’s failure has caused — but to highlight that if a one-time loss of $6 billion is worth worrying about, we should be that much more concerned about a loss of $400 billion each year. For the time being, we have avoided these catastrophic costs because the Clinton-Gore Administration was not successful in shoving the global warming treaty down our throats.

We should thank President Bush for steadfastly standing up to the special interests who promoted the Kyoto Treaty. Despite the wishes of those powerful few who hoped to profit from the new regulatory mandates of Kyoto, President Bush did not cave-in. Instead, Bush sided with hardworking Americans who simply could not afford to foot the bill so that a few special interests could profit handsomely.

There are others who continue to push the Kyoto Protocol and energy rationing schemes. They would like to run roughshod over President Bush, take our jobs, and pick our pockets. Beware. If they succeed, our economic pain will be a great deal more profound than anything experienced because of Enron’s current financial collapse.

Enron:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1765301/posts?page=5#5

2002 http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2002_04/various-enron.html

Enron chairman Kenneth Lay met with President Clinton and Vice President Gore in the Oval Office in 1997, prior to the Kyoto energy conference, according to the Washington Times of Jan. 16. The apparent purpose was for Clinton and Gore to get an agreement from Enron that it would support the draconian regulations and higher costs on the industry that would emerge from the conference, in exchange for government guarantees and taxpayer subsidies. This would expand the government’s power within the industry and guarantee handsome political contributions for the Democrats.

Enron would not disappoint. It became the poster corporation for the junk science of global warming, and supported the industry-killing Kyoto Protocol. Enron probably believed that promised taxpayer payouts would make up for its losses in support of unproductive, but politically correct, energy initiatives. The U.S. Senate, however, recognizing Kyoto’s negative impact on the economy at large, foiled Clinton-Gore plans by voting 95-0 to trash the unfair and inequitable Protocol. The Senate action wouldn’t stop Enron, however, from attempting to become the corporation of choice for the Clinton-Gore globalization agenda.
One source has stated that at Hillary Clinton’s prodding, seats were allotted on government trade mission flights to $50,000 Democratic National Committee (DNC) donors. Documents related to the practice were later subpoenaed, but were reportedly shredded, Enron-style. Nevertheless, Enron was apparently there with checkbook in hand for the coveted seats. In 1994, chairman Lay accompanied Commerce Secretary Ron Brown on a trade mission to India. An Export-Import bank $302 million loan to build an Enron-controlled Indian plant soon followed. The DNC received a $100,000 check from Enron just four days before India approved the power plant project. Another $100,000 Enron check followed in 1995. Clinton had instructed his chief of staff to help Enron obtain the power plant construction contract in India, and Enron received $398 million in taxpayer assistance. Another $100,000 Enron donation to the DNC in 1996 may have resulted in Regulatory Commission rulings favorable to the firm.
Federal and confidential corporate records show that Enron donated thousands in political soft money beginning in 1995, according to Jerry Seper and the Times. Seper further reports that Clinton energy and EPA officials often made themselves available for Enron executives. A December 1997 Enron memo emphasizes that approval of the Kyoto Protocol would be good for Enron stock. In 1998, Enron called for “restructuring” of legislation to deal with “the problems of global climate change.” Never mind that there was growing skepticism about the seriousness of global warming.
Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is heading the Senate investigation of Enron, has benefited from $250,000 given to his political causes by firms with Enron ties, but has not recused himself. Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin now runs Citibank, which is owed $800 million by Enron. Rubin called the Bush Treasury Department to seek an Enron bailout and was turned down cold. So this is the Enron record: They sold out their own stock-holding employees, bought big into the global warming myth to get government handouts, banked on the Kyoto Protocol becoming law even after being drubbed in the Senate, and gave most of their money to Republicans when they were getting all that favoritism and assistance from the Democrats.
Enron Gave Big Bucks to Democrats, Backed ‘Global Warming’ Scam
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/1/16/135018.shtml

Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com Thursday, Jan. 17, 2002

Scandal-plagued Enron Corp., cited by Democrats as a big giver to President Bush and the GOP, gave a cool $420,000 to Democrats when the corporation was desperate to get the Clinton administration’s help in having the potentially disastrous Kyoto treaty made the law of the land.

Senate ratification of the treaty, which foes explained would have cost the U.S. billions and had a deadly effect on the U.S. economy, would have been a bonanza for Enron.

What’s Good for Enron Isn’t Good for America

According to Washington Times reporter Jerry Seper, a December 1997 private internal memo written by Enron executive John Palmisano said the treaty would be “good for Enron stock!!”

“The memo said the Kyoto treaty - later signed by Mr. Clinton and leaders of 166 other countries, but never ratified by the Senate - ‘would do more to promote Enron’s business than will almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring the energy and natural gas industries in Europe and the United States.’”

Easy Access to Clinton and Gore

Writing in Wednesday’s Times, Seper reports, “Federal and confidential corporate records show that after donating thousands of dollars in soft money and PAC donations beginning in 1995, Enron received easy access to President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.”

Seper revealed that Clinton’s Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency “often made themselves available for Enron executives to discuss the firm’s needs, according to records, even arranging for meetings with key congressional staffers.”

Enron’s drive to get the Kyoto Protocol ratified continued even after the Senate voted 95-0 to set restrictions on any climate negotiations. The Senate resolution warned U.S. diplomats against negotiating any climate treaty in which less developed nations such as communist China would have fewer restrictions imposed on them than the U.S. and other developed countries.

That vote gave clear warning that the Senate would never ratify the treaty, costing Enron potential profits in the billions. As a result, Enron used its open door to the Clinton White House to lobby hard for a treaty that would give it the ability to buy and sell trading credits to emit carbon dioxide as part of a strategy to reduce “greenhouse gases.”

Under the system pushed by Enron, new investments in gas-fired plants and pipelines would be expanded and coal-fired power plants, which emit more carbon dioxide, would be curtailed. Seper noted, “Natural gas, electricity and their delivery systems constitute Enron’s major businesses.”

During a White House meeting in July 1997, Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay prodded Clinton and Gore to support a “market-based” approach to what he described as the problem of “global warming,” a theory discredited by a majority of the world’s climatologists.

In the face of Senate hostility to the Kyoto accords, Enron continued to urge the Clinton administration to seek a “restructuring” of the treaty that would have been a “first step to solving the problems of global climate change.” Seper notes that the company “sought laws that would have favored Enron’s natural gas inventory and reduced competition from coal.”

On Feb. 20, 1998, during a meeting with Energy Secretary Federico Pena, Lay “encouraged the Clinton administration to seek electricity legislation favored by Enron,” outlining for the secretary what the company believed were the “important” pending legislative concerns.

“Today’s meeting between Ken Lay and Energy Secretary Federico Pena to discuss electricity legislation went very well,” said a memo written by Jeff Keller, the company’s Washington governmental affairs chief.

“Secretary Pena indicated that the White House proposed bill is ‘on the president’s desk,’ and that Clinton could be convinced to release the White House proposal in the next few days,” Keller wrote. “He suggested that President Clinton might be motivated by some key contacts from important constituents.”

The records showed that Lay took that advice and sent a letter to Clinton that day, asking him to “move this matter forward.”

Seper writes that Clinton administration officials have denied any wrongdoing, saying they were only responding to constituent requests.

Hypocrisy Alert

But while such Democrats as Rep. Henry Waxman of California attempt to create suspicion that Enron’s contributions to President Bush and other Republicans gave the company undue influence with the administration without a scintilla of evidence to back up their imaginings, more real proof of the cozy ties between Enron and the Clinton administration continues to unfold.

Seper recalls, for example that, the Washington-based Export-Import Bank approved a $302 million loan toward a $3 billion Enron-controlled power plant in India in 1994.

Wrote Seper: “Mr. Clinton took an interest in the deal, asking the U.S. ambassador to that country and his former chief of staff, Thomas F. ‘Mack’ McLarty, then a presidential adviser, to monitor the proposal.

“Mr. McLarty - who later became a paid Enron director - spoke with Mr. Lay on several occasions about the plant. In 1996, four days before India granted approval for Enron’s project, the Houston-based firm contributed $100,000 to the Democratic Party.”

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