Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Writing is on the Wall

Well friends, you know by now that I am suspicious by nature, in fact I would call myself the human lie detector, a little story quietly appeared in the Canwest fish wrap known as the Vancouver sun, Scott Simpson, who IS on our side had the story, he does some great work and I would like to personally thank him for his vigilance on Gordon Campbell`s doomed energy plan.

So here`s the deal, Powerex, our BC energy/power trading division which in the past made B.C. a whole lotta money, and, and the head traders for Powerex are compensated handsomely for positive results, they received a healthy base salary but, but the bonus structure is where these trading gurus made the big bucks, for decades B.C. has done very well on the energy trading division, and these gurus did pretty good for themselves, so here is how I read what has happened.


If in fact what I and most intelligent BCers think is true, B.C. Hydro is going to lose a fortune on power sales because of the ridiculous one way guaranteed contracts Gordon Campbell has signed, in fact I suspect B.C. Hydro will be bankrupted, as you know they were unable to pay B.C. any money this year because of debt, and, as you know the world of economics is in complete flux, people are in fear of losing their jobs, so when I hear about these Powerex trading Gurus jumping ship and leaving their lucrative jobs well, my radar starts beeping, you see folks, if you were one of those Gurus at Powerex and you knew that Powerex was going to lose vast amounts of money and your bonuses for making big bucks was all but over, if you thought that Powerex too would be going bankrupt wouldn`t you leave,wouldn`t you look for a greener pasture?

If Powerex loses money, there will be no bonuses, like my dad always said,it`s better to leave on top then get dragged into the mud!


That`s how I read the story, what else could explain the mass exodus from Powerex to another power trading company? Six of the big boys left,including the top gun for Powerex who has been there forever, and,these big boys had no difficulty in finding a new gig with the American giant Morgan Stanley.(read the story here)http://www.vancouversun.com/Powerex+traders+jump+rival/2474976/story.html

So that`s the deal friends, I would like to hear your thoughts on this latest revelation, it`s my opinion that these trading Gurus gave Gordon Campbell a glorious salute good-bye,similar to the one in the above picture!(On a side note Gordon Campbell`s public affairs bureau have launched a personal attack against this blog and Grant G) also Michael Smyth latest column is promoting open pit mining, a two-bit piece and, and I really appreciate all the loyalty from my regulars.

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome story! You certainly can smell a dirty Gordo rat a mile away. These Powerex traders are all jumping ship in a big way and that tells us something. Crap, it really looks like the criminal Gordo gang will bankrupt B C Hydro and sell its pieces off to his cronies. Only in BC. Remember Grant where there is smoke there always is fire.

No wonder that Gordo and his criminal minions are going after you. Be strong!

Crankypants said...

I think you have hit the nail on the head Grant. These guys/gals aren't getting out of Dodge because of the olympics. They are fleeing a sinking ship.

Hugh said...

What is an American company based in Vancouver(Morgan Stanley) doing, exporting electricity from Canada to the U.S.

I thought all the electricity in BC was produced or bought by BC Hydro. So why would there be a U.S. company in Vancouver exporting our electricity?

Grant G said...

Hugh,companies are everywhere...As for Morgan Stanley, they weren`t exporting B.C. Hydro power....They were exporting between the US and Alberta...And they will continue to do so..

These power trading Gurus who left Powerex will make money trading for Morgan Stanley..They get paid by how much money they make for the company, with Powerex (Because of the ridiculous contracts Campbell has signed)...Powerex will no longer make money,therego their bonus money!

Think outside of the box friends

Evil Eye said...

It is time to nationalize power companies again. The great experiment of 'free enterprise' power is nothing more than a ponzie scheme by 'slick-willies'.

Energy and power are now a public right, for without them society collapses, therefore the public must own them.

Hugh said...

Thanks Grant. I am wondering why Morgan Stanley is establishing a power trading floor in Vancouver.

"Margolis and the others reportedly joined a new power trading floor that Morgan Stanley is establishing in Vancouver."

jaydee said...

Hard to believe we have to just sit here and not be able to do something about this theft by the B.C. Liberal felon and his gangs. We have to pay the 25 goons on his PAB $$ ?? so the unelected garbage can spend $$$30 million, probably much more, of our dollars on this senseless BS, like chasing YOU down, You (and us) who are all these goons' bosses. How can this be? No private company would have to put up with this, just sitting watching them stealing all our assets. Soooo depressing is there really nothing we can do? Even sicker that we now have to pay the child porn sicko too. Are none of these goons required to be bonded when handling huge $$$$ of ours? Last I heard felons were not bondable. I had to be bonded just for working at investment dealers years ago.
Jean

Anonymous said...

http://bailout.propublica.org/entities/331-morgan-stanley

Taxpayers bail them out and they come to rob us again.
Curt

Grant G said...

Jaydee.....

I need to correct you..There aren`t 25 members of the Gordon Campbell Public Affairs Bureau....There are approximately 220 highly paid spin masters..Down from 230...Belt tightning you know!

Cheers

Kim said...

I notice a trend across the country in provincial governments selling off public assets at a dizzying pace. NB, Ontario, the city of Winnipeg has offered every public space to be corporately branded. WTF? Good work Grant, have you been deleting the trolls posts? I notice more and more of them, they're everywhere. Next they'll start disappearing people, like they do to activists in Columbia. Be careful. Stay in touch with someone daily!

jaydee said...

Thanks Grant, now that makes me feel 7 times better. Doom and gloom if it weren't for the beautiful B.C. sunshine and warm weather!

Anonymous said...

You got the bonus part pretty right, hence the new guys in charge at Powerex just signed $800k+ guaranteed contracts for the next 3 years. They are stupid either.
They're just carving up the salaries of the 6 (and maybe a few more) who left

Anonymous said...

As a power trader, I dont think that The top team from Powerex left because they thought BC Hydro is going under. They left because, no matter how much Powerex pays, Morgan Stanley can quadruple it. BC Hydro's political limitations as a public company belonging to BC's residents and accountable to its taxpayers, is not an issue with investment banks when it come to sharing profit with its employees.
If these Margolis made 500,000K per year at Powerex (he made much more BTW) it would create a scandal, so he went for the guys that offered a politically acceptable $2M per year and a potential for much more to use the information he has about the utility's long term contracts and inflexibilities, simple.

So I agree with the jumping ship, but I am not sure about the assumption about the ship sinking. The ship definitely will take on more water because Morgan Stanley will now suck a lot of taxpayer money out of BC Hydro, but hey, we are voting for the people that make that sort of thing happen with investment bank friendly laws and rules. Harper looks at this and loves it, he is most likely to work for an investment bank after his political stint and cash in on board memberships for the rest of his, and his kids lives. Done. If you vote conservative/republican = short Canada = long investment banking.

It is time to change the rules and stop letting huge greedy banks fullel all the money out of the low, middle class and into the pockets of 0.01% of the worlds' population.
I quit energy trading when I realized what I was contributing to. Realizing that I am a tool that takes from the tax payer and puts it in my and much richer peoples' pockets just does not make sense to me any longer.