"CA made laws preventing energy producers from passing on increased costs to consumers."
It was the CPUC who did that, not the legislature. The utilities petitioned for an emergency rate increase [December, 2000, I think] when all this began to unfold, and Loretta Lynch shunned them.
(For the record, Loretta Lynch quit her job in 1992 and moved to Arkansas to work on clinton's election campaign. This should tell us all exactly where she stands.)
I would like to remind everyone that as I see it, this whole Enron media circus is just an attempt to divert attention from the impending bankruptcy of California. The state will be officially bankrupt later this month, or early next. Employee paychecks will start to bounce. Davis will need someone to blame that on, now won't they? Guess who?
Clinton went so far as to bomb an innocent aspirin factory and some goat pens to divert attention from "The Blue Dress".
Should we be surprised that Davis is trying the same technique in his own clumsy and impotent way?
And if Davis can get more (he's got a great start) traction on the state being a victim in a giant power play (pun intended), then he can go to Washington with his hands out. I can hear Davis now: "The power companies screwed CA just like the S & L's screwed depositors--shouldn't the government action be the same?" And standing behind him will be Boxer, Feinstein, Waxman and the whole CA Democrat contingent. And if Bush doesn't give them the handout, that will be further proof that Bush is in bed with the energy business against the state of CA and its poor, hapless citizens.
I've no doubt that Bush will extend the price caps come Sept. 30 to at least get that off the table. And that probably will be no big deal--unless--the Middle East situation heats up affecting the price of oil products and/or the climate in CA heats up, causing a shortage of energy there and prices to spike.
And the $100,000 question is: When will the sheeple in CA come to separate the truth from lies and spin?