Beware the increasingly desperate acts of Capitalists once their oppressed victims --we the people-- start catching them with their pants down. SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Reuters) - The California Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday approved orders to investigate the financial relationships between the state's near bankrupt utilities and their parent companies. The order on the financial links between PG&E Corp <PCG.N> and its Pacific Gas and Electric unit, and Edison International <EIX.N> and its Southern California Edison subsidiary, will set up public hearings on relationships and the transfer of money between the utilities and their parent companies. PG&E SCRUTINIZED FOR TRANSFER OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS by Nick Driver, San Francisco Examiner, April 4, 2001 ... At a California Public Utilities Commission meeting in San Francisco ... Commission members were in an aggressive mood ... voting unanimously to begin investigating billions of dollars in possibly illegal money transfers between utilities and their parent holding companies. PG&E Corp. and Edison International are accused of profiting by transferring cash away from their subsidiary utilities instead of allowing them to use it to buy power. "This order to investigate is not meant to be accusatory, but we need to investigate in order to justify this rate hike," said Commissioner Geoffrey Brown. If the allegations are proven, the holding companies would be forced to REPAY [TO CONSUMERS] part of the $14 BILLION they racked up since December ... Calif.'s Davis says PG&E "dishonored" itself SAN DIEGO, April 6 (Reuters) - California Gov. Gray Davis, rocked by the bankruptcy filing of Pacific Gas & Electric, angrily declared that the giant utility had "dishonored itself" Friday by asking for court protection. "Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has dishonored itself. This action was unnecessary. They've caused undue alarm," Davis said in San Diego as news of the bankruptcy filing ratcheted up the state's escalating energy crisis. "PG&E was not pushed into bankruptcy," Davis said. "They plunged themselves into bankruptcy for their own strategic advantage -- not the best interests of the people of California," Davis said. ... Pacific Gas & Electric, the state's largest investor-owned utility, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors Friday after declaring that talks with Davis over a possible bail-out strategy had reached a standstill. The bombshell announcement came just one day after Davis outlined a strategy he said would help the cash-strapped utility back to its feet after months of hemorrhaging cash because of California's botched 1996 power deregulation law. Davis' plan includes raising consumer rates by an average 26.5 percent as well as negotiating to buy the utilities' share of the state's massive power transmission grid -- a move which could funnel billions of dollars into their empty coffers. In its filing Friday, Pacific Gas & Electric, a unit of PG&E Corp. indicated this was not enough, saying it had been forced to rack up almost $9 billion of back debts because California's 1996 power deregulation law has prevented it from passing along skyrocketing wholesale costs to its customers. The parent company has not filed for protection from creditors. PG&E Corp. Chairman Bob Glynn said the utility had decided to turn to the court after watching Davis devote himself to negotiations with Southern California Edison while ignoring Pacific Gas & Electric's increasingly dire predicament. "The negotiations we have been involved in since last November are going nowhere," . Glynn said. "It's a real slap in the face to the people of California," Davis said of the bankruptcy filing, adding that he had used equally tough language with PG&E's Glynn to communicate his disappointment. [Cartoon in SF Examiner, March 30, 2001, by T. Borromeo: Four grinning Fat Cat capitalists --one a Texaan in Stetson hat-- in a room. One is reading from a book whose cover says "OPEC 1973 Playback," while the other three are standing at a blackboard, chalk in hand. On the blackboard is already written: 1. Cut supply 2. Rake in cash 3. Blame consumers The Texan cheerfully asks, "OK, what's next?"] FTC Finds No "Conspiracy" in Midwest Gas Spike WASHINGTON, March 30 (AP) -- Some energy producers withheld supplies of gasoline to maximize profits, but there is no evidence that companies conspired to raise gas prices last summer, the Federal Trade Commission has concluded. In a final report being released today, the FTC said that a variety of factors, including many beyond the control of producers and marketers, were PARTLY responsible for gasoline prices soaring beyond $2 a gallon in parts of the Midwest last summer. STILL, the FTC report said that "CONSCIOUS but 'independent' choices" by market participants, to maximize profits, ALSO played a significant role in the price spike ... The agency was asked last year to investigate whether producers and marketers had violated antitrust laws to manipulate gasoline markets in the Midwest where supplies were particularly tight. "The investigation uncovered no evidence of collusion or any other antitrust violation," concluded the report summary ... "[HOWEVER,] some firms DID take advantage of the situation by withholding gas to keep prices --and their profits-- high," said Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis., who was briefed on the FTC findings. The FTC investigation found that decisions by some refiners, "acting independently," added up to supply shortages and price increases. STOP THE BIG BUSINESS RAID ON OUR BUDGET by Riva Enteen and Eileen Hansen, SF Examiner, March 30, 2001 Wealthy corporations --from PG&E to Hearst-- are demanding a TAX REFUND that would devastate the City. Why aren't our leaders putting up more of a fight? ... The biggest corporations in San Francisco --PG&E, Chevron, Betchtel ... among others-- are pursuing a huge lawsuit against the people of San Francisco. These corporations claim that The City's business tax, which has existed for DECADES, is "illegal." If the corporate raiders have their way, Sanm Francisco city government [and taxpayers] could ... be forced to pay back taxes of $800 million or more. This is nothing less than corporate piracy. If the corporate raiders are successful, public services will be devastated. [Taxpayers] will be forced to pay to make up for the massive budget defcits that will result. Recently The San Francisco Examiner editorialized that these "corporate crybabies ... should be ashamed." The San Francisco Bay Guardian calls the 52 corporate plaintiffs the "Filthy 52." This is not just a legal fight. This is a political battle. It is a fundamental contest for power between Big Business and everyone else in our city ... We say no to the corporate raiders, and no to [a now-exposed secret] so-called "settlement." We are sick to death of back-room deals and corporate bailouts ... [Instead,] it's time to turn up the heat on the corporate raiders.
