Enron the smartest guys in the room transcript

#Enron the smartest guys in the room transcript full#
#Enron the smartest guys in the room transcript free#

So we can see, immediately, that simply saying РІР‚Сљderegulation, because it was in the back pocket of Enron paying off politicians, man, thatРІР‚в„ўs where they went wrongРІР‚Сњ - thatРІР‚в„ўs a simple minded way to look at this topic. In particular, if we look at another energy market for natural gas in America, which is a deregulated market, but itРІР‚в„ўs a federal market, and itРІР‚в„ўs supervised by federal authorities - unlike the electricity market, which is balkanized and regulated state by state. ThatРІР‚в„ўs not to say that all market reform has to be bad we can look at lots of other parts of the world that got it better. So what California chose to do was to change some rules, but they did it badly - and almost every serious assessment of CaliforniaРІР‚в„ўs power crisis also faults the way that deregulation was done. When we talk about deregulation, what weРІР‚в„ўre really talking about is a change in the rules to permit more or less competition in different parts of the generation, the transmission and so on.

#Enron the smartest guys in the room transcript free#

Vaitheeswaran: LetРІР‚в„ўs remember, there is no such thing as a free market in energy. And they created crazy schemes with names like РІР‚СљGet Shorty,РІР‚Сњ where they would round-trip power and drive up prices artificially in order to benefit from that.Р”В«rancaccio: Is it that the regulators are just not too swift? Because at the same time theyРІР‚в„ўre getting lobbied heavily by industry, so the rules are partially an expression of what industry asked for. If youРІР‚в„ўre a self-interested, greedy energy trading company thatРІР‚в„ўs looking for a loophole - which Enron surely was - you see that as opportunity. The question is: What did the regulators and the politicians do in response? The rules that were set up in California were dumb rules. But I would point out that thereРІР‚в„ўs more blame to go around than just greedy capitalists seeking a form of deregulation, which is what Enron advocated, along with other energy companies at the time. Vijay Vaitheeswaran: Absolutely - the way that I blame Lehman Brothers or any crook that breaks the law.

But Enron is also famous for extracting an estimated $30 billion from the people of California by gaming that stateРІР‚в„ўs electricity market. MarketplaceРІР‚в„ўs David Brancaccio spoke with Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global energy and climate innovation editor at The Economist and host of their new podcast РІР‚СљTo a Lesser Degree.РІР‚Сњ Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.Р”Вavid Brancaccio:Р’В When you think Enron, you think creative accounting. Tickets were hard to come by, the screening started late and just before the lights dimmed Tobey Maguire was still roaming the aisles looking for a seat.WeРІР‚в„ўre watching one documentary a month for our Econ Extra Credit project, and this month itРІР‚в„ўs РІР‚СљEnron: The Smartest Guys in the RoomРІР‚Сњ РІР‚вЂњ about the accounting scandal that exploded into the public eye 20 years ago next month.Р”В«ut one part of the Enron story that weРІР‚в„ўre still seeing echoes of today is the companyРІР‚в„ўs involvement in the 2000-2001 California electricity crisis, where energy companies manipulated markets and prompted large-scale blackouts after lobbying the state to deregulate energy markets. I hope you enjoy the read.) It is perhaps this feeling of danger, the recent lawsuits and Gibney's reputation as a daring and deft documentarian ( Taxi To the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) that made the Sundance premiere of Going Clear feel like the biggest event of this year's festival. (In light of this fact, I'd like to welcome The Church of Scientology to my blog. This is one of the many well-articulated and important points spelled out by Alex Gibney in his new HBO documentary Going Clear: Scientology and The Prison of Belief. Scientologist leaders do not play defense - they attack.

#Enron the smartest guys in the room transcript full#

It's common knowledge that anyone who speaks out about (and particularly any journalist who writes about) The Church of Scientology is 'fair game,' meaning that person is inviting the full wrath and power of 'The Church' into his or her life.