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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (7321)	12/23/2000 10:26:12 PM
From: 200ma	Respond to of 19428

Sir Auric, does your crystal ball have a target for the naz? you were incredibly right on the previous two calls...thanks as always...i would love to see the naz hit 3200 to create some opportunities

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (7321)	12/27/2000 7:27:36 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

Thanks, Sir. It gets worse, FYI. Maybe they should not only ask Mr. Putin (RUS) how to count votes,... but also howto steer an economy? Davis, Clinton meet on California power crisis (UPDATE: adds Richardson order, details throughout) By Patrick Connole WASHINGTON, Dec 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson for the second time extended on Wednesday a rarely used emergency order mandating electricity generators sell power to California utilities in order to prevent power blackouts in the nation's most populous state. Richardson issued the extension just hours after California Gov. Gray Davis, in Washington to seek help with his state's electricity crisis, discussed a variety of options with President Bill Clinton during a meeting at the White House. Richardson said the emergency order, which would have expired at midnight Pacific time on Wednesday, was needed to force reluctant power generators and marketers from refusing to sell to California's largest investor-owned utilities: Pacific Gas & Electric, a unit of PG&E Corp (NYSE:PCG - news) and Edison International's (NYSE:EIX - news) Southern California Edison. ``I remain concerned that the reliability of the grid in California may be endangered,'' Richardson said in a statement. The extension runs until Jan. 5. The original emergency order was issued on December 13. Davis, speaking earlier in the day, said he briefed Clinton on the crisis and told the president he had asked that the U.S. Energy Department order for generators to sell power to California utilities be extended until Jan. 9. Generators are afraid Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison cannot afford power, since they have been nearly bankrupted by skyrocketing power prices brought on by steep natural gas prices, strong demand and commitments under California's failed power market deregulation policies. biz.yahoo.com >>>>>>> Calif. regulators mull rate hikes, attack FERC (UPDATE: Recasts lead, updates with hiring of auditors, paragraph 14) By Leonard Anderson SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - California officials blamed federal regulators on Wednesday for exacerbating the state's energy crisis as they opened hearings on a requested rate hike by California's two largest investor-owned utilities. Loretta Lynch, president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), said inaction by federal regulators had contributed to sending the California power market spinning out of control. Wholesale power prices have skyrocketed in California this year and Pacific Gas and Electric is seeking to raise rates for customers by an initial average of 26 percent while Southern California Edison wants a 30-percent hike. CPUC commissioner Carl Wood said the Federal Energy Regulating Commission (FERC) is telling California its economy can ``go down the toilet.'' The utilities have run up billions of dollars in power purchase costs this year which they have been unable to pass on to customers due to a rate freeze with the consequent cash crisis taking them to the brink of bankruptcy. A price freeze for residential customers was imposed for up to five years under the trailblazing 1996 legislation which deregulated California's power markets. At the end of November the shortfall stood at $7.7 billion, comprising $3.2 billion for Edison International (NYSE:EIX - news) unit Southern California Edison and $4.5 billion for PG&E Corp.(NYSE:PCG - news) subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric. Roger Peters, general counsel for Pacific Gas and Electric, told the hearings that the utility's economic survival hangs in the balance. ``We are out of credit and we are close to being out of cash,'' he said. Last week credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the two utilities risk running out of cash ``within a matter of weeks'' and warned it could downgrade debt ratings to junk status unless urgent action was taken. A chronic shortage of electricity has led to skyrocketing wholesale power prices in California this year. There have been accusations that the shortage has led to ``price gouging'' by power producers. Federal regulators have refused to order refunds from power generators despite admitting prices were not ``just and reasonable'' as required by U.S. law. The CPUC is holding emergency hearings in preparation for a meeting on January 4 when they are expected to lift the price freeze and allow the utilities to raise rates. Lynch said the hearings may extend beyond the original two days planned and could even continue into next week. The CPUC also said on Wednesday that it has hired two auditing firms to examine the books of PG&E and Southern California Edison to test their claims of a financial crisis. Barrington-Wellesley Group will audit PG&E and KPMG LLP will examine Southern California Edison, the CPUC said. The agency will consider the audit results in preparing for its January 4 meeting. Thirty-eight companies and organizations are scheduled to testify on Wednesday, with comments from each limited to around five minutes. Wood noted that power deregulation was intended to provide benefits to consumers and if they do not benefit that will mean ``the end of deregulation in California.'' A leading California lawmaker was among the first to testify. Assemblyman Fred Keeley (D-Boulder Creek), who is speaker pro-Tempore of the California State Assembly, backed a plan to get control over electricity prices partly by state ownership of some power generation. The plan involves the purchase of both utilities' hydroelectric generating assets, which produce a total of about 5,100 megawatts of power, enough to supply 5.1 million homes. The purchase would be financed by issuing revenue bonds and the state would contract back with the utilities to operate the plants, Keeley said in prepared remarks. Another early witness was Gregory Conlon, president of the CPUC from 1993 until 1998 and one of the architects of California's much-criticized deregulation legislation. He said California's problems were due to a lack of investment in new generation power plants, high natural gas prices and drought, not deregulation. Conlon urged the commission to keep the utilities liquid and viable, saying bankruptcy would bring chaos to California. Wholesale power prices in California started to soar in late spring with supplies struggling to keep pace with surging demand linked to a buoyant economy. California's power problems are also rooted in the absence of any significant new plants during the last decade, partly due to uncertainty connected with the deregulation of the state's electricity industry. >>>>>>> [Wouldn't it be the easiest way to let them go bankrupt, later nationalize them, and even later, sell them to the markets again? Even Austrian politicians have much experience in such practises...]