Excerpts:
1)
Frank E. HolmesChief Investment Officer
Frank Holmes is CEO and Chief Investment Officer of U.S. Global Investors, Inc., a registered investment adviser managing no-load mutual funds specializing in natural resources, emerging markets and global infrastructure.
The company’s funds have received numerous awards and honors during Mr. Holmes’ tenure, including more than two dozen Lipper Fund Awards and certificates.
Mr. Holmes was selected as the 2006 mining fund manager of the year by Mining Journal, a leading publication for the global natural resources industry. He is also the co-author of “The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing.”
He is engaged in a number of international philanthropies. He is a member of the President’s Circle and on the investment committee of International Crisis Group, which works to resolve conflict around the world. He is also an advisor to the William J. Clinton Foundation on sustainable development in countries with resource-based economies.
2)
Evan W. Smith, CFAPortfolio Manager
Funds Under Management
Mr. Smith was also an equities research analyst with Sanders Morris Harris in Houston where he followed energy companies in the oil and gas, coal mining, and pipeline sectors. In addition, Mr. Smith was with the Valuation Services Group of Arthur Andersen LLP. Mr. Smith holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin.
Tim Steinle, CFA
Portfolio ManagerQuantitative Analyst
Funds Under Management
Mr. Steinle was formerly a risk manager for Valero Energy Corporation from 2001 through 2008. He also managed the development of fixed-income and foreign exchange trading systems at Enron Capital & Trade and served as an analyst at Procter & Gamble for three years.
Mr. Steinle earned an MBA in Computational Finance at the University of Texas at Austin in 1996. He completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering at the Azeri Petroleum Institute in Baku and is fluent in Russian. Mr. Steinle is a member of the CFA Society of San Antonio
http://www.globalwarming.org/2009/04/28/gores-inconvenient-enron/
Excerpt:
Gore’s Inconvenient Enron
This is a worthy topic for continued congressional exploration. In short, the video and accompanying narrative dissect how, at his Friday Capitol Hill appearance touting a scheme to ration energy while in the process rewarding business who helped write the scheme:
Al Gore obfuscates, downplays and refuses to discuss the role that CEOs have played in crafting his Cap-and-Trade C02 trading schemes and carbon swapping systems.Of course, Gore wasn’t the home-state governor of this Fortune 15 company either, so I guess his supposed lack of familiarity (keep reading) would make sense – but one might ask what nickname Gore had for (or from) close family friend and, ahem, benefactor, the Soviet stooge Armand Hammer? Maurice Strong? The gang at his own personal Enron, scam-artist and buddy-run Molten Metals? Et cetera, et cetera…
Al Gore tries to put a lid in Congressional committee testimony on a little reported but vitally important subject in the global warming, carbon-tax ‘debate’- the new derivatives bubble in the emerging green-energy credit-swap market….
The point from Rep. Scalise that is gaveled over by the chairman and stuttered-over by Gore is that many of the Congressmen are ‘concerned about turning over our energy economy over to firms like Enron and some of these Wall Street firms that wrecked out financial economy.’
Fmr. Vice President Al Gore denies that Ken Lay and other CEOs developed carbon scheme: “I didn’t know him well enough to call him ‘Kenny-boy’.
http://www.usfunds.com/investor-resources/video-library/Video/Gold-for-Bread-1490/
Gold for Bread
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubJp6rmUYM
http://www.cashill.com/movie_reviews/enron.htm
Excerpt:
The article notes that Gast had been “in the media spotlight because of her involvement in the controversial contract between HEP (the Croatian Electric Company) and Enron.” The deal was “controversial” because Croatia was so badly served by it. Still, this exposure did not deter the Clintons from inviting Gast to the wedding. Gast boasted that she was an active supporter of Hillary in her senate run and that “Hillary paid special attention to me.”
Gast continued to work for Enron at least through the summer of 2000. When the deal between a new Croatian government and Enron began to sour in June of that year, Gast used her influence to mobilize the Clinton White House on Enron’s behalf. The Croatian journal, Nacional, claimed, in fact, that “the political relations between the United States and Croatia, as well as the upcoming visit by President Mesic and Premier Racan to the White House [were] connected to the successful signing of the Enron deal with Croatian Electric (HEP).”
http://www.cashill.com/natl_general/senator_clinton_just.htm
Excerpt:
Although his colleagues on the U. S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be content to throw Hillary Clinton softballs during her confirmation hearing, I suspect Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina has moxie enough to throw the would-be secretary of state a nasty curve as follows:
http://talking_points.tripod.com/DeMint: Senator Clinton, just who Is Zdenka Gast?Clinton: Zdenka Gast? Help me out here.DeMint: Let me refresh your memory. Gast played a key role in Commerce Secretary Ron Brown’s fatal trip to Croatia in April 1996. Ostensibly at least, Brown went to Croatia to broker a deal between the Croatian government and a certain American corporation. Gast served as liaison between the two.Clinton: Why is this an issue?DeMint: For starters, it was a sweetheart deal that the White House coerced Croatia to sign. For another, the White House’s Croatian client was president Franjo Tudjman, a notorious anti-Semite. And for a third, the company in question was Enron. Otherwise, no problem.Clinton: Enron? Please! What’s your source? Some right-wing blog?DeMint: No, your ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith. He told Air Force investigators that Gast had been scheduled to fly with Brown on the USAF plane that crashed but flew in instead on a Swiss Air Charter with the Enron guys.Clinton: You’re making this up.DeMint: Let me quote the official, 22-volume U.S, Air Force Report. Said Galbraith, “There were problems in—in—in this—in concluding this deal where they wanted to sign a letter of intent, and so, rather than—than go on the Brown trip, she stayed with the Inron [sic] people to do the final negotiations.”Clinton: Bull. Enron was a Republican company.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Croatia
Excerpt:
Energy in Croatia describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Croatia.
Croatia satisfies its electricity needs largely from hydro and thermal power plants, and partly from the Krško nuclear power plant, which is co-owned by Croatian and Slovenian state-owned power companies.
Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) is the national energy company charged with production, transmission and distribution of electricity.
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/01/06/2218/obama-s-new-chief-staff-sought-loosen-post-enron-corporate-reforms
Excerpt:
Daley’s predecessor at Commerce, Mickey Kantor, said Daley was an inspired choice. “His experience in the business community at a very high level will be helpful to him and the president and administration – not just because of credibility, but because he knows so much how business works and what are the problems and opportunities that we all face in trying to work together in moving this economy forward.” Kantor is now in private law practice in Los Angeles.
Obama appointed Daley to succeed Rahm Emanuel, his first chief of staff. Emanuel left the White House to run for mayor of Chicago, an opportunity that arose when Daley’s older brother, Richard M. Daley, announced he would not run for re-election.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/21/business/enron-received-many-loans-from-us-for-foreign-projects-during-the-1990-s.html?ref=ronaldhbrown
Excerpt:
Enron Received Many Loans From U.S. For Foreign Projects During the 1990's
Two government agencies that promote American business interests abroad gave the Enron Corporation hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and other assistance over the last decade, the agencies and Congressional investigators said today.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which helps American companies win business against foreign competitors in developing nations, gave Enron $544 million in loans for five projects, starting in 1993. It also provided $204 million in political risk insurance for 10 Enron projects, starting in 1992.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States, a government agency that makes loans to foreign companies to help them buy goods and services from American companies, lent $675 million to companies affiliated with Enron, starting in 1993.
Republicans said the figures showed that Enron had sought and received help from Washington long before President Bush took office and that the Clinton administration had enthusiastically helped Enron as the company undertook an ambitious global expansion in the 1990's.
Enron sought to cultivate ties to the Clinton administration in other ways. As he was about to step down as Mr. Clinton's Treasury secretary in 1999, Robert E. Rubin received a letter from Kenneth L. Lay, who was then Enron's chairman, offering Mr. Rubin a seat on Enron's board, documents released tonight by the Treasury Department show.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=2278
Excerpt:
Argentina: George W. Bush allegedly calls Argentina's Minister of Public Works Rodolfo Terragno to pressure him to accept Enron's ''laughable bid'' for gas pipeline.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/05/business/coincidences-from-a-case-15-years-old.html
Excerpt:
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which helps American companies win business against foreign competitors in developing nations, gave Enron $544 million in loans for five projects, starting in 1993. It also provided $204 million in political risk insurance for 10 Enron projects, starting in 1992.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States, a government agency that makes loans to foreign companies to help them buy goods and services from American companies, lent $675 million to companies affiliated with Enron, starting in 1993.
Republicans said the figures showed that Enron had sought and received help from Washington long before President Bush took office and that the Clinton administration had enthusiastically helped Enron as the company undertook an ambitious global expansion in the 1990's.
Enron sought to cultivate ties to the Clinton administration in other ways. As he was about to step down as Mr. Clinton's Treasury secretary in 1999, Robert E. Rubin received a letter from Kenneth L. Lay, who was then Enron's chairman, offering Mr. Rubin a seat on Enron's board, documents released tonight by the Treasury Department show.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=2278
Excerpt:
1988
USA: George H.W. Bush elected president Former Enron executives Louis J. Borget and Enron Oil treasurer Thomas N. Mastroeni, accused of diverting $142 million in company funds to Panamanian and other offshore accounts between 1985 and 1987, tried in Manhattan civil courts. An Israeli and two Britons are also accused by Enron of participating in the fraud. CEO Ken Lay claims ignorance of activities.Argentina: George W. Bush allegedly calls Argentina's Minister of Public Works Rodolfo Terragno to pressure him to accept Enron's ''laughable bid'' for gas pipeline.
1989
Argentina: Newly elected leader of Argentina Carlos Menem accepts Enron bid for pipeline.1990
USA: Former Enron employees Borget and Mastroeni settle lawsuit, plead guilty of defrauding Enron.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/05/business/coincidences-from-a-case-15-years-old.html
Excerpt:
Coincidences From a Case 15 Years Old
Enron executives made millions on fraudulent trades, and this was followed by Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. And top Enron officials said they knew nothing.
It all happened 15 years ago in an inconspicuous office park in Westchester County, N.Y.
An Enron subsidiary, the Enron Oil Corporation, set up its office in Valhalla, N.Y., in 1985. By October 1987, the S.E.C. had begun investigating the two top executives there, and the office was shut. Though a far cry from the dimensions of the current scandal, the financial finagling does have eerily similar elements.
In October 1987, the S.E.C. accused Louis J. Borget, then the unit's president, and Thomas N. Mastroeni, its secretary-treasurer, of executing sham oil trades over those years.
The two men, court documents show, set up fake offshore companies to disguise the trades and falsified records to conceal them from company officials in Houston.
The two executives pleaded guilty in federal court in White Plains to fraud-related charges and tax evasion. Mr. Borget served a year in jail, and Mr. Mastroeni was put on two years' probation and ordered to do 400 hours of community service. This previous Enron scandal was the subject of a recent article in The Financial Times.
It all happened 15 years ago in an inconspicuous office park in Westchester County, N.Y.
An Enron subsidiary, the Enron Oil Corporation, set up its office in Valhalla, N.Y., in 1985. By October 1987, the S.E.C. had begun investigating the two top executives there, and the office was shut. Though a far cry from the dimensions of the current scandal, the financial finagling does have eerily similar elements.
In October 1987, the S.E.C. accused Louis J. Borget, then the unit's president, and Thomas N. Mastroeni, its secretary-treasurer, of executing sham oil trades over those years.
The two men, court documents show, set up fake offshore companies to disguise the trades and falsified records to conceal them from company officials in Houston.
The two executives pleaded guilty in federal court in White Plains to fraud-related charges and tax evasion. Mr. Borget served a year in jail, and Mr. Mastroeni was put on two years' probation and ordered to do 400 hours of community service. This previous Enron scandal was the subject of a recent article in The Financial Times.
The fake oil trades cost Enron more than $136 million in losses. At the time, Kenneth L. Lay, the chairman, called the loss an ''expensive embarrassment.''
Other employees were given several weeks to close up shop, recalled David Ralph Hogin, who worked at the Enron office as chief market analyst from December 1985 until the office closed.
Enron rented the whole first floor of the Mount Pleasant Corporate Center, at 117 Stevens Avenue. It was 25,000 square feet of prime office space, and Enron, before moving in, insisted the space be furnished with ''the finest of everything,'' recalled Louis R. Cappelli, the Westchester developer who owned the park.
''They were wonderful tenants,'' Mr. Cappelli recalled this week. ''They paid their rent ahead of time.''
There were about a dozen employees, half of whom were traders, recalled Mr. Hogin, now 78 and retired in Wilmington, Del. In 1986, he earned $250,000 working for Enron Oil, he said.
''The office made a lot of money on stock deals,'' he recalled. ''There were high salaries and big bonuses. We were the golden-haired boys in the Enron fold.''
http://theintelhub.com/2011/03/21/the-surprising-pnac-connection-to-libya/
Excerpt:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/business/2002/enron/21c.stm
Excerpt:
Current job: US Trade Representative
Link to Enron: Mr Zoellick was a paid consultant on the Enron advisory board before joining the US administration.
He also owned Enron shares worth between $15,000 and $50,000, which he sold after joining the administration.
Mr Zoellick is the cabinet official in charge of negotiating trade deals for the Bush White House.
He is trying to open up foreign markets to US companies, including ambitious plans for expanding the North American Free Trade Area (currently including Canada, US, and Mexico) to the rest of the Latin America - a goal strongly backed by US industry.
http://rationalrevolution.net/war/introducing_the_bush_administrat.htm
Excerpts:
1) In addition to deals with Iraq, under Cheney Halliburton accounting practices were changed and offshore tax shelters were used. Arthur-Anderson, the same accounting company that was implicated in “cooking the books” for Enron, was Halliburton’s accounting firm.
Halliburton setup subsidiaries in the Caymans, the same place where Enron had 692 subsidiary companies. Between 1995 and 1999, Cheney’s term as CEO at Halliburton the company has setup 44 new “tax friendly” subsidiaries.
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=33
Excerpt:
Zoellick started his governmental career at the Department of the Treasury, from 1985 to 1988 as a counselor to Secretary James Baker, eventually as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Policy. Zoellick followed Baker to the State Department as Under Secretary, and in August 1992, was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to President George G.W. Bush
Zoellick left the White House with Bush in 1993, becoming a vice president at Fannie Mae, the nation’s quasi official housing finance guarantor. He was also senior international advisor to Goldman Sachs and taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard University.
Zoellick was a paid consultant on the Enron advisory board, a Board Director of Alliance Capital and in 2001 joined the George W Bush administration. The previous year Alliance invested a portion of the Florida State pension fund in Enron stock. When Enron collapsed, Florida lost more than $280 million. The Florida State Board of Administration sued Alliance for failing to sufficiently research Enron, and for not following an agreed-upon investment strategy. That suit was later withdrawn by Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
The Securities and Exchange Commission settled an enforcement action with Alliance Capital in 2003, resolving charges that is had defrauded mutual fund investors. Alliance paid $250 million in penalties to the harmed shareholders.
In 2001,President George W. Bush appointed him U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). His agenda was to bring China into the World Trade Organization, and to complete free trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Australia, Morocco, Jordan, the Dominican Republic, Bahrain, and five Central American countries. In February 2005, he became Deputy Secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice.
Enron rented the whole first floor of the Mount Pleasant Corporate Center, at 117 Stevens Avenue. It was 25,000 square feet of prime office space, and Enron, before moving in, insisted the space be furnished with ''the finest of everything,'' recalled Louis R. Cappelli, the Westchester developer who owned the park.
''They were wonderful tenants,'' Mr. Cappelli recalled this week. ''They paid their rent ahead of time.''
There were about a dozen employees, half of whom were traders, recalled Mr. Hogin, now 78 and retired in Wilmington, Del. In 1986, he earned $250,000 working for Enron Oil, he said.
''The office made a lot of money on stock deals,'' he recalled. ''There were high salaries and big bonuses. We were the golden-haired boys in the Enron fold.''
http://theintelhub.com/2011/03/21/the-surprising-pnac-connection-to-libya/
Excerpt:
But a brief review of Libya’s history demonstrates that Britain, France, Italy, Russia, the United Nations, and the United States have long had a great deal at stake in Libya, even before oil was discovered in 1959. Today, it is a paramount American interest that Libya not return to being a rogue state or descend into civil war. If Libyan leader Muammar al-Gadhafi reasserts control over the east or even if he fails and the country is cleaved in two, U.S. interests in the region would suffer a major setback.
What makes Libya so important? Any real estate agent could tell you: location, location, location. Control of the country has always been a remarkably effective way to project power into Egypt, the Mediterranean, and beyond. Similarly, denying a hostile power (be it the Soviet Union, Muammar al-Gadhafi, or terrorists) the ability to destabilize surrounding countries from Libyan territory has been a consistent thread in U.S. policy since the end of World War II. (more history of the region with NPR spin HERE)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/business/2002/enron/21c.stm
Excerpt:
Current job: US Trade Representative Link to Enron: Mr Zoellick was a paid consultant on the Enron advisory board before joining the US administration.
He also owned Enron shares worth between $15,000 and $50,000, which he sold after joining the administration.
Mr Zoellick is the cabinet official in charge of negotiating trade deals for the Bush White House.
He is trying to open up foreign markets to US companies, including ambitious plans for expanding the North American Free Trade Area (currently including Canada, US, and Mexico) to the rest of the Latin America - a goal strongly backed by US industry.
http://rationalrevolution.net/war/introducing_the_bush_administrat.htm
Excerpts:
1) In addition to deals with Iraq, under Cheney Halliburton accounting practices were changed and offshore tax shelters were used. Arthur-Anderson, the same accounting company that was implicated in “cooking the books” for Enron, was Halliburton’s accounting firm.
Halliburton setup subsidiaries in the Caymans, the same place where Enron had 692 subsidiary companies. Between 1995 and 1999, Cheney’s term as CEO at Halliburton the company has setup 44 new “tax friendly” subsidiaries.
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=33
Excerpt:
Zoellick started his governmental career at the Department of the Treasury, from 1985 to 1988 as a counselor to Secretary James Baker, eventually as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Policy. Zoellick followed Baker to the State Department as Under Secretary, and in August 1992, was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to President George G.W. Bush
Zoellick left the White House with Bush in 1993, becoming a vice president at Fannie Mae, the nation’s quasi official housing finance guarantor. He was also senior international advisor to Goldman Sachs and taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard University.
Zoellick was a paid consultant on the Enron advisory board, a Board Director of Alliance Capital and in 2001 joined the George W Bush administration. The previous year Alliance invested a portion of the Florida State pension fund in Enron stock. When Enron collapsed, Florida lost more than $280 million. The Florida State Board of Administration sued Alliance for failing to sufficiently research Enron, and for not following an agreed-upon investment strategy. That suit was later withdrawn by Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
The Securities and Exchange Commission settled an enforcement action with Alliance Capital in 2003, resolving charges that is had defrauded mutual fund investors. Alliance paid $250 million in penalties to the harmed shareholders.
In 2001,President George W. Bush appointed him U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). His agenda was to bring China into the World Trade Organization, and to complete free trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Australia, Morocco, Jordan, the Dominican Republic, Bahrain, and five Central American countries. In February 2005, he became Deputy Secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice.
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