Brian Holmes on Sun, 10 Feb 2002 19:37:01 +0100 (CET) |
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[Nettime-bold] Enron's Matrix |
A wonderful coincidence in names, or perhaps what Hegel would have called the ruse of reason, links the popular film Matrix, with its Baudrillardean simulacra-theme, to the popular disaster of Enron, the occult engine of the virtual economy that sucked all our blood in the 1990s. The matrix, as any movie-going adolescent could guess, is a computer that adjusts reality to serve the needs of a few very powerful postmodern vampires. The endless numbers churned by this machine may have proved Hegel's old dictum, that the rational is real. But does anyone still believe that the real is rational?... _Hard Money, Strong Arms And 'Matrix' How Enron Dealt With Congress, Bureaucracy_ They called it "the matrix" -- a computer program that brought a scientific dimension to Enron's effort to seduce politicians and sway bureaucrats. With each proposed change in federal regulations, lobbyists punched details into a computer, allowing Enron economists in Houston to calculate just how much a rule change would cost. If the final figure was too high, executives used it as the cue to stoke their vast influence machine, mobilizing lobbyists and dialing up politicians who had accepted some of Enron's millions in campaign contributions. "It was a new thing to be able to quantify the regulatory risk," said economist Gia Maisashvili, who helped Enron develop the system. "We were the pioneers." The matrix illustrates the brash, calculating methods that Enron managers used to play Washington politics. The company that made headlines by erasing rules and ignoring convention in the business world applied the same principles in Congress, state capitals and the administration, bragging that its shrewd political tactics blew past customary constraints. Enron's lobbying techniques grew so aggressive that a key member of Congress reportedly exploded in anger when the company's chief executive pressed him on deregulation matters. They began, however, with a vigorous application of the most time-proven method: lavishing campaign money on politicians.... [snip] By Joe Stephens Washington Post Sunday, February 10, 2002 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51802-2002Feb9.html _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold