Neat--A released Enron memo written during California’s "energy crisis" explains the company drove up prices by creating phantom congestion in energy transmission lines and then "clearing" them. A company lawyer explained: "Enron gets paid for moving energy to relieve congestion without actually moving any energy or relieving any congestion."

You can bank on it--"Washington--Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that more honest business accounting was likely to be a lasting benefit from the Enron collapse."--Associated Press.

Landlord Liberation Front--With 22 consecutive years of war, reported the New York Times, 40 percent of Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, is bombed out. Now with World Bank, UN, and others pouring in, rents at all levels have soared through the proverbial ceiling. A day laborer told the Times reporter that for the shack he lives in the rent is leaping from $6.25 to $90 a month. "I will have to take my children and sleep in the streets," he said.

Enough!--Nonwhite women journalists at BBC’s World Service told a government employment tribunal of the discrimination meted out to them by a group of entrenched white male journalists who are able to impose longer work hours on them, block promotions, and generally demean them, leading to stress and depression. Sharan Sandhu told the tribunal: "There was a senior layer of white male journalists who were very powerful.... They had a colonial mentality."

How wonderful--Hans Rau-sing, a retired Swedish billionaire resident in England, threw a party for 600 (intimate?) friends. The guests were flown to Cannes where they boarded a cruise ship for a week of fun. Gourmet food, quality champagne, swimming pools, saunas, etc. Entertainment by Elton John and other stars, plus the entire cast of a London hit musical. The claimed tab, $18 million. No particular reason for the occasion was reported. Perhaps Mr. Rausing, 76, calculates his good deed will get him through the pearly gates.

Blood lovers--In the first quarter of this year, the gain in workers’ productivity was reported the "best" in 10 years. Gloated one economist: "Companies managed to squeeze every last ounce of production out of their workers and it showed."

The can-do system--Hundreds of thousands of passengers in England’s national airports were stranded up to six hours when the nationwide flight control computer system crashed--for the third time in three months. The breakdown followed installation of a routine upgrade in the $1 billion service system.

No comment--"One-third of tires may fail stricter standards--Regulators say new rules will save lives, but tire makers contend that tests are too severe and will cost too much"--News headline.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home