It’s bad enough when a crooked corporation screws the public; it’s so much worse when the crooked corporation’s employees get caught on tape bragging about it.
And yet that’s exactly what’s happened to Bush’s top corporate contributor, Enron.
CBS obtained a tape of Enron energy traders “gloating and praising each other as they helped bring on, and cash-in on, the Western power crisis.” It’s devastating. These callous thugs enjoyed forest fires, gouging customers, and shutting down power plants — all to make even more money.
There’s this:
“He just f—s California,” says one Enron employee. “He steals money from California to the tune of about a million.”
“Will you rephrase that?” asks a second employee.
“OK, he, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day,” replies the first.
And this:
“They’re f——g taking all the money back from you guys?” complains an Enron employee on the tapes. “All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?”
“Yeah, grandma Millie, man”
“Yeah, now she wants her f——g money back for all the power you’ve charged right up, jammed right up her a—— for f——g $250 a megawatt hour.”
And the guys’ confidence that Bush would take their side:
Before the 2000 election, Enron employees pondered the possibilities of a Bush win.
“It’d be great. I’d love to see Ken Lay Secretary of Energy,” says one Enron worker.
That didn’t happen, but they were sure President Bush would fight any limits on sky-high energy prices.
“When this election comes Bush will f——g whack this s–t, man. He won’t play this price-cap b——t.”
Unfortunately, on this point, they were absolutely correct.
Don’t worry; I’m sure Bush will soon explain how these cruel crooks were just a few “bad apples”…