http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml
Henwood: "Deregulators like Enron always portray themselves as vigorous free marketers, but there is nothing invisible about their hands. They spent millions on lobbying, and worked every level, from statehouses to the Senate. In 1992, when she was chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Wendy Gramm exempted Enron's trading in electricity futures from oversight. Enron happened to be a big funder of her husband, Texas Senator Phil Gramm (another friend of the free market who drew public paychecks almost all his working life). Six days after that ruling, Gramm left the CFTC, and five weeks later she joined Enron's board. In December 2000, Senator Gramm helped push a bill through Congress that deregulated trading in energy. Enron's electricity trading business swelled, and some of the firm's only real profits were made. Without owning a single California power plant, Enron came to control the state's market. Rolling blackouts became the norm, prices skyrocketed, and the same state racked up billions in debt. Phil Gramm blamed environmentalists for the crisis. Finally, price controls were imposed and the bubble burst. Deprived of its cash cow, Enron hit the rocks a few months later." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20040602/bc6e5033/attachment.htm>