WEBVTT 00:01.540 --> 00:08.020 Prof: Okay let's get started. 00:08.020 --> 00:18.160 It occurred to me over the break that Goldman Sachs gets 00:18.164 --> 00:21.304 some bad press. 00:21.300 --> 00:27.470 Is there--has anybody read the piece in Rolling Stone? 00:27.470 --> 00:33.170 Okay can--these--where are the hand microphones? 00:33.170 --> 00:40.040 Do we have the hand microphones? 00:40.040 --> 00:43.040 Student: Yeah, Matt Taibi of Rolling Stone 00:43.038 --> 00:46.138 called Goldman Sachs a-- I might get this quote wrong, 00:46.138 --> 00:49.158 but it's something along the lines of "A great vampire 00:49.156 --> 00:52.326 squid relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that 00:52.331 --> 00:53.841 smells like money." 00:53.840 --> 00:55.910 Prof: I think that's an exact quote. 00:55.910 --> 00:57.110 Student: Yeah. 00:57.110 --> 01:01.300 Prof: We should have tried that out on Paolo. 01:01.298 --> 01:08.408 Now it also reminds me of the passage in Richard Posner's 01:08.412 --> 01:12.182 book, to the effect that we can no 01:12.183 --> 01:17.593 more blame the financiers for the wreckage of the credit 01:17.593 --> 01:23.303 markets than we could blame a lion for eating a zebra, 01:23.299 --> 01:29.159 and there's an odd discontinuity here. 01:29.159 --> 01:36.549 When you look at Goldman Sachs internally, through the eyes of 01:36.553 --> 01:44.313 one of its very senior partners, the ethical component is big. 01:44.310 --> 01:51.470 There's a huge component about integrity and meeting one's 01:51.471 --> 01:59.011 obligations and delivering the highest quality product on the 01:59.012 --> 02:03.372 market, and at the same time, 02:03.367 --> 02:10.967 Goldman is vulnerable to the view that it took inordinate 02:10.965 --> 02:18.015 advantage of the taxpayers in the recent debacle. 02:18.020 --> 02:23.940 Now how would they defend themselves? 02:23.938 --> 02:26.858 They would say--one thing they would say is, 02:26.861 --> 02:29.651 "We didn't want to take the money. 02:29.650 --> 02:33.810 Hank Paulson told us we had to take the money," 02:33.810 --> 02:38.460 because the stigma which would otherwise fall on the banks 02:38.460 --> 02:44.090 which took the money would cause further disruption and meltdown; 02:44.090 --> 02:46.820 that's one thing they would say. 02:46.818 --> 02:51.488 Another thing--well, have you noticed what they're 02:51.485 --> 02:56.145 doing to--in the way of charitable activities just 02:56.151 --> 02:57.201 lately? 02:57.199 --> 02:59.989 Anybody notice the announcement? 02:59.990 --> 03:08.790 $500 million dollars in help to 10,000 small businesses. 03:08.788 --> 03:16.708 Does that strike you as a big gesture or a little gesture? 03:16.710 --> 03:23.560 Tal, what do you think? 03:23.560 --> 03:26.590 Student: Well as a percent of their revenues, 03:26.590 --> 03:30.330 profits, or even just the amount they pay out in bonuses 03:30.328 --> 03:32.488 every year, I would say that's a very 03:32.486 --> 03:33.256 little gesture. 03:33.258 --> 03:34.828 Prof: That's a very little gesture. 03:34.830 --> 03:36.630 I agree. 03:36.628 --> 03:42.008 From a public relations point of view, if they multiplied it 03:42.014 --> 03:47.314 by ten so it's five billion, would it do them more good? 03:47.310 --> 03:51.120 Them, not the world, not the country, 03:51.119 --> 03:51.859 them. 03:51.860 --> 03:54.600 Student: I think that adding a couple more zeroes 03:54.603 --> 03:57.693 would probably make a bit of a difference in public opinion, 03:57.690 --> 04:02.400 but I don't know if it would fully make up for the perceived 04:02.403 --> 04:06.883 damage that they caused in the public's consciousness. 04:06.878 --> 04:12.028 Prof: Okay so my own intuition is that it wouldn't do 04:12.034 --> 04:13.874 them a lot of good. 04:13.870 --> 04:19.130 That the public doesn't think quantitatively, 04:19.129 --> 04:22.829 some opinion leaders do, but most people $500 million 04:22.831 --> 04:26.891 sounds like an awful lot of money and five billion doesn't 04:26.889 --> 04:31.539 sound like ten times as much, so they're probably not far off 04:31.543 --> 04:35.943 in the number they chose if the object is public relations, 04:35.940 --> 04:38.670 which I think it is. 04:38.670 --> 04:44.470 How many--are there people here who think that the government 04:44.470 --> 04:50.560 ought to compel them to give back a bigger chunk of capital, 04:50.560 --> 04:55.430 put it out there in some charitable way or give it back 04:55.427 --> 04:57.137 to the taxpayers. 04:57.139 --> 05:01.959 Anybody of that view? 05:01.959 --> 05:08.809 Okay so you're unanimous which is rare in a group this size. 05:08.810 --> 05:13.700 Does that mean that you think there's no ought to it, 05:13.699 --> 05:18.119 or does it mean that the process by which the government 05:18.120 --> 05:21.820 would do that strikes you as not a good one? 05:21.819 --> 05:30.879 Who's got a--rescue me here guys I'm drowning. 05:30.879 --> 05:32.749 Student: There is a big difference between what you 05:32.745 --> 05:34.415 should do and what the government can make you do. 05:34.420 --> 05:37.480 I don't think that there's any reason any large corporation 05:37.483 --> 05:39.653 should be forced to donate to charity, 05:39.649 --> 05:43.709 unless it's like a sort of ad hoc tax randomly applied to 05:43.709 --> 05:45.419 them, and that seems like a 05:45.415 --> 05:46.805 > 05:46.810 --> 05:48.010 and we don't want to go there. 05:48.009 --> 05:52.609 Prof: Okay so it probably would violate the 05:52.608 --> 05:58.518 Constitution if we created The Goldman Sachs Retribution Act. 05:58.519 --> 06:01.239 I agree with that. 06:01.240 --> 06:06.340 So we're coming to the end of the course, 06:06.338 --> 06:11.988 and what I want to do is today to add one more case, 06:11.990 --> 06:17.020 one which allows us to look at the interface between capital, 06:17.019 --> 06:22.909 the environment, and government in the TXU 06:22.913 --> 06:27.223 v. EDF case which you've 06:27.218 --> 06:33.198 all looked at and which is structured so that you could 06:33.196 --> 06:40.166 invest a whole week in it if you were willing to trace out every 06:40.170 --> 06:43.270 strand in the web page. 06:43.269 --> 06:49.679 Then on Wednesday I'm going to do a recap of the course, 06:49.680 --> 06:57.040 as if on a motorcycle, and finish with a central case 06:57.036 --> 07:04.816 which will form the basis for your final exam essay, 07:04.819 --> 07:08.039 and since it's going to count for 70% of the final, 07:08.040 --> 07:13.230 I'm sure we'll have 100% attendance during the last 07:13.228 --> 07:19.368 twenty minutes of class, and I'll give you the reading 07:19.370 --> 07:22.020 assignment in advance. 07:22.019 --> 07:26.619 It is the--Leasing the Rain, it's the-- 07:26.620 --> 07:30.980 the reading is the William Finnegan piece from The New 07:30.976 --> 07:34.556 Yorker about the privatization of the water 07:34.555 --> 07:39.085 supply of Cochabamba, Bolivia by an American 07:39.093 --> 07:42.523 corporation known as Bechtel. 07:42.519 --> 07:47.669 And the essay question--I'll formulate it at the end of class 07:47.673 --> 07:51.263 Wednesday, asks you to work through that 07:51.264 --> 07:55.364 story as somebody who has learned something about 07:55.363 --> 07:57.843 capitalism in this course. 07:57.839 --> 08:04.729 Okay so now, marrying the devil and the one 08:04.725 --> 08:14.395 difficulty with this case is that it's full of acronyms, 08:14.399 --> 08:18.339 and these are the most important, or most immediately 08:18.341 --> 08:23.671 important of the acronyms, and can anybody here quickly 08:23.673 --> 08:28.713 recite the full names of every one of these? 08:28.709 --> 08:34.999 Who wants to be a show off? 08:35.000 --> 08:41.170 I'm sure there are fifty people who can do it. 08:41.168 --> 08:48.258 Okay I'll--let's put them into three bins. 08:48.259 --> 08:56.209 This is the most obscure, Texas Climate Initiative, 08:56.210 --> 09:02.340 and Jim Marsden who is the video star of the case is 09:02.336 --> 09:08.656 president of that, and he is the regional head of 09:08.658 --> 09:12.998 EDF, The Environmental Defense Fund 09:12.998 --> 09:18.678 for Texas, and The Natural Resources 09:18.684 --> 09:25.214 Defense Council is a-- is parallel to the EDF; 09:25.210 --> 09:33.510 a little harder edge and important--then in the gray box 09:33.510 --> 09:42.420 in the middle we have the target firms in the private equity 09:42.417 --> 09:44.377 takeover. 09:44.379 --> 09:51.359 It's just one firm really, it's TXU, but the focus 09:51.355 --> 09:55.765 strategically is on TXU plus. 09:55.769 --> 10:02.729 It is on the expanded generation capacity that TXU has 10:02.731 --> 10:07.881 announced, and that expanded generation 10:07.881 --> 10:15.141 capacity is on the lower edge from an environmental point of 10:15.135 --> 10:16.115 view. 10:16.120 --> 10:18.970 It relies on conventional technology, 10:18.970 --> 10:24.300 which no one thought at the time, was the best available 10:24.296 --> 10:30.006 technology for coal-fired generation of electric current. 10:30.009 --> 10:34.809 While we're at it, the parts of an electric 10:34.809 --> 10:40.639 utility company are three: generation, transmission, 10:40.639 --> 10:44.069 and sales or distribution. 10:44.070 --> 10:49.090 Transmission is the long lines, and distribution is the last 10:49.085 --> 10:53.665 mile of lines, and the financial connection, 10:53.668 --> 10:58.648 the contractual connection with the customer. 10:58.649 --> 11:10.299 Then on the right we've got KKR and TPG and these are both large 11:10.303 --> 11:18.263 and very aggressive private equity firms. 11:18.259 --> 11:25.059 KKR is most famous for the Reynolds/Nabisco, 11:25.058 --> 11:30.448 RJR Nabisco takeover, which is characterized at 11:30.452 --> 11:37.492 length in Barbarians at the Gate, and Texas Pacific is 11:37.486 --> 11:42.876 actually the more interesting of the two, 11:42.879 --> 11:45.709 from the point of view of this case. 11:45.710 --> 11:51.350 Is there anybody who can snap to an obvious conclusion about 11:51.352 --> 11:54.512 the difference between the two? 11:54.509 --> 11:59.079 Okay we'll draw it out in a few minutes. 11:59.080 --> 12:04.670 The TXU expansion 8,600 megawatts added, 12:04.672 --> 12:12.562 that's a--just under a 50% increment to the firm's total 12:12.557 --> 12:15.997 generating capacity. 12:16.000 --> 12:20.150 Ten or $11 billion dollars in costs, 12:20.149 --> 12:27.069 somewhere between $50 billion and $2 billion of that are 12:27.066 --> 12:31.716 budgeted to controls of pollution, 12:31.720 --> 12:35.770 and it's pretty murky in the case and pretty murky in fact 12:35.774 --> 12:39.924 just how much of it-- how much of the capital can be 12:39.916 --> 12:42.586 construed as pollution control. 12:42.590 --> 12:48.400 They promise a 20% cut in emissions--what do they mean by 12:48.403 --> 12:49.133 that? 12:49.129 --> 12:51.619 Who thought that one through? 12:51.620 --> 12:56.630 20% cut in emissions, we're going to add 47% to our 12:56.625 --> 13:01.425 total generating capacity, and we're going to cut 13:01.432 --> 13:06.242 emissions by 20%, what exactly is the claim? 13:06.240 --> 13:12.810 Does it mean--yes. 13:12.808 --> 13:15.008 Student: I'm not sure what TXU promised exactly, 13:15.014 --> 13:16.664 but there are two ways you can do that. 13:16.658 --> 13:20.308 You can artificially--you can buy carbon credits and reduce 13:20.307 --> 13:23.137 your emissions, like, technically on paper. 13:23.139 --> 13:27.269 You can also retrofit some coal plants and see-- 13:27.269 --> 13:31.639 so that emissions are kind of sequestered underground, 13:31.639 --> 13:33.589 like there are certain technologies that allow you to 13:33.586 --> 13:34.906 do that, so that's some ways that you 13:34.910 --> 13:35.530 can cut emissions. 13:35.529 --> 13:38.739 Prof: Okay. 13:38.740 --> 13:43.190 Those are both valid points, but I'm still a little unclear 13:43.187 --> 13:48.017 about how much soot is going to come out the end of the pipe. 13:48.019 --> 13:49.559 Yes. 13:49.558 --> 13:54.398 Student: I guess the other potential difference is 13:54.395 --> 13:59.485 whether the 20% cut is in total emissions or if it's per unit 13:59.486 --> 14:02.446 generated, so if it's per unit generated 14:02.448 --> 14:06.058 there would still be a larger final percentage of emissions, 14:06.058 --> 14:09.148 but it would be like less per unit. 14:09.149 --> 14:12.569 Prof: Yeah I think it has to be normed in that way. 14:12.570 --> 14:17.010 It has to be a unit rate of emission so that these plants 14:17.014 --> 14:19.464 are, on average, quite a lot better 14:19.461 --> 14:23.561 than the old plants, though still not state of the 14:23.558 --> 14:29.158 art, and the claim is that we're going to drive the aggregate 14:29.164 --> 14:33.094 emission rate per megawatt down by 20%. 14:33.090 --> 14:35.580 They're using old sites. 14:35.580 --> 14:38.120 They plan to use old sites where they've already got a 14:38.116 --> 14:38.496 plant. 14:38.500 --> 14:45.360 Anybody figure out why they would say a thing like that? 14:45.360 --> 14:51.570 Well--yes. 14:51.570 --> 14:54.420 Student: If you're building a new site it requires 14:54.423 --> 14:57.583 a lot more regulatory approval to a green field site I guess. 14:57.580 --> 14:57.740 Prof: Yeah. 14:57.740 --> 15:00.650 A green field site, you've got a whole round of 15:00.647 --> 15:04.247 permitting, and there are a couple of other advantages. 15:04.250 --> 15:09.140 One is that the NIMBY politics, "not in my backyard 15:09.136 --> 15:12.866 politics," are over in those areas. 15:12.870 --> 15:16.680 You've already been through it, and if you can come back to 15:16.677 --> 15:20.497 people and say, "This is a less disruptive 15:20.504 --> 15:25.544 plant than the old one," that's a pretty good start, 15:25.538 --> 15:29.988 and even if people aren't much taken by that, 15:29.990 --> 15:34.430 if you've been--if the management has been intelligent 15:34.432 --> 15:39.212 they will have built a network of local relationships, 15:39.210 --> 15:42.480 which they would have to build anew on a green field site. 15:42.480 --> 15:45.990 Finally there's an infrastructure reason, 15:45.990 --> 15:51.280 that the transmission lines required to transport the 15:51.280 --> 15:55.860 current produced will already be in place, 15:55.860 --> 16:00.480 and that's both an economic and a political plus. 16:00.480 --> 16:04.720 Then at the end of this they throw in a 10% discount to their 16:04.721 --> 16:07.841 customers, and that discount is a 16:07.836 --> 16:12.526 non-sequitur in the environmental discussion, 16:12.528 --> 16:15.308 but it's not a non-sequitur in the actual case, 16:15.308 --> 16:21.338 because TXU is in trouble on two political fronts at once. 16:21.340 --> 16:29.360 It is a monopoly seller of current and it has-- 16:29.360 --> 16:33.360 it is--it has wired the state of Texas politically, 16:33.360 --> 16:39.100 and there is a populist revolt against that, 16:39.100 --> 16:45.460 and the populist revolt takes the form of criticizing the 16:45.460 --> 16:50.230 ultimate pricing at the household level. 16:50.230 --> 16:52.540 Now if we look at the case from Austin, 16:52.538 --> 16:55.798 Texas we've got all these small things, 16:55.798 --> 16:58.458 upper right, that are federal government, 16:58.460 --> 17:04.410 and we've got all these big things locally that are state 17:04.407 --> 17:07.167 politics and government. 17:07.170 --> 17:12.250 You've got Texas state government where--how's TXU 17:12.253 --> 17:16.823 doing with Governor Perry during all this? 17:16.818 --> 17:20.138 Is Perry a populist who wants to beat up on them? 17:20.140 --> 17:23.920 No, they own Perry. 17:23.920 --> 17:28.590 I may overstate a little but they pretty much own Governor 17:28.585 --> 17:29.235 Perry. 17:29.240 --> 17:36.000 The Texas Business for Clean Air is a not all together 17:35.997 --> 17:43.897 surprising alliance of business groups which are opposed to TXU 17:43.902 --> 17:47.242 on this, on environmental grounds, 17:47.242 --> 17:50.752 sometimes for self serving business reasons and other 17:50.746 --> 17:52.916 times, I think, because it's what 17:52.920 --> 17:54.940 senior management thinks is right. 17:54.940 --> 18:00.570 You've got Texans for Public Justice and they're not so much 18:00.567 --> 18:04.667 about the environment as about the rates. 18:04.670 --> 18:10.900 You've got a state senator named Troy Frazier who is making 18:10.902 --> 18:16.922 a name for himself statewide by attacking TXU on the, 18:16.920 --> 18:21.890 mostly on the rate side, but he's also willing to take 18:21.885 --> 18:24.505 up the environmental side. 18:24.509 --> 18:27.899 You've got The Texas Climate Initiative and the EDF, 18:27.901 --> 18:31.491 which are closely intertwined in the personality of Jim 18:31.491 --> 18:32.291 Marston. 18:32.289 --> 18:34.359 What did you think of Marston? 18:34.358 --> 18:39.448 If you went all the way through the case you've heard him, 18:39.452 --> 18:43.212 I don't know, five or seven times in video, 18:43.205 --> 18:45.525 seem like an able guy? 18:45.529 --> 18:56.389 Thumbs up if you think that, thumbs down if you don't think 18:56.388 --> 18:57.698 that. 18:57.700 --> 19:07.020 Hmm...we've got ninety-five abstentions. 19:07.019 --> 19:12.609 He's an able guy, he's a very able guy, 19:12.605 --> 19:20.245 but he is a--he has a very soft style of argument. 19:20.250 --> 19:24.700 He never seems to be a jump ahead of you in the argument. 19:24.700 --> 19:27.330 He's also, in a very laid back way, 19:27.328 --> 19:30.848 asking your opinion, as if he hadn't really figured 19:30.847 --> 19:34.917 out where he wanted to go, and that may be partly for our 19:34.917 --> 19:39.037 benefit because he was working for the school of management in 19:39.044 --> 19:46.774 preparing for the case, but it's also probably part of 19:46.771 --> 19:50.511 his natural style. 19:50.509 --> 19:59.629 PUCT, Public Utility Commission of Texas, and Texas Commission 19:59.632 --> 20:05.832 on Environmental Quality; I almost missed that one myself. 20:05.828 --> 20:09.608 These are the two principle regulatory bodies in the case 20:09.605 --> 20:12.905 and Association of Electric Companies of Texas; 20:12.910 --> 20:18.590 you can imagine who they are and what the TXU's role is. 20:18.588 --> 21:16.628 It's a classic interest association and then you got 21:16.634 --> 22:22.654 populist--[Video 20:35-22:50.] Okay so any of you guys ever 22:22.648 --> 22:59.068 done a protest of that type? 22:59.068 --> 23:04.028 You just don't look like street theatre types. 23:04.029 --> 23:08.019 Do you think that's effective? 23:08.019 --> 23:11.479 You're shaking your heads and I think there are two sides to the 23:11.483 --> 23:12.093 question. 23:12.088 --> 23:18.048 Let's start in the negative here. 23:18.048 --> 23:20.628 Student: I mean, I just feel as though it's not 23:20.634 --> 23:23.654 going to get the companies to change their positions really, 23:23.650 --> 23:26.820 so what's--I mean, yes, it might stir up a little 23:26.819 --> 23:29.659 public disapproval for a couple of days, 23:29.660 --> 23:31.080 but that's not really going to change behavior. 23:31.078 --> 23:35.548 Prof: Okay so as a direct strategy for changing the 23:35.551 --> 23:38.771 behavior of companies, it goes nowhere. 23:38.769 --> 23:40.229 We agree. 23:40.230 --> 23:44.990 Is there any other way in which it might be of service to the 23:44.990 --> 23:47.690 cause these people are pursuing? 23:47.690 --> 23:51.840 Here and then here. 23:51.838 --> 23:54.118 Student: If you can get media coverage of it, 23:54.118 --> 23:56.218 it tends to have a more dramatic effect on public 23:56.222 --> 23:56.752 opinion. 23:56.750 --> 23:59.920 I was working on a political campaign where we sent out 23:59.923 --> 24:04.323 something that was short enough, a picture in The Washington 24:04.323 --> 24:08.753 Post, and so I at least from personal experience, 24:08.750 --> 24:11.320 think that it does have the potential. 24:11.318 --> 24:16.048 Probably not to affect the direct response of the people 24:16.051 --> 24:20.161 who you're calling out, but that there can be larger 24:20.156 --> 24:23.756 implications for how other people view the situation. 24:23.759 --> 24:28.529 Prof: Okay so the clear--the media are the target 24:28.534 --> 24:33.484 and then who would we most likely influence with this sort 24:33.480 --> 24:34.610 of thing? 24:34.608 --> 24:40.058 Anybody want to elaborate further? 24:40.059 --> 24:42.469 Yes, Sasha. 24:42.470 --> 24:45.610 Student: I think what the companies really worry about 24:45.613 --> 24:48.453 is that they're clients are going to be sensitive to the 24:48.448 --> 24:50.508 negative press and change companies. 24:50.509 --> 24:52.089 Prof: Absolutely. 24:52.088 --> 24:59.818 That's--TXU customer voter base is part of this and both of 24:59.816 --> 25:06.016 those nouns are important, and they are both voters and 25:06.018 --> 25:09.238 customers, and they may not have many 25:09.244 --> 25:12.844 places to go as customers but as voters, 25:12.838 --> 25:18.358 the perception within regulatory and legislative 25:18.359 --> 25:24.819 groups in Austin would be an important consideration. 25:24.818 --> 25:29.918 I personally don't think that this kind of demonstration is 25:29.921 --> 25:34.101 hugely effective, but it does kind of raise the 25:34.096 --> 25:38.676 temperature of the issue and make it salient to decision 25:38.680 --> 25:40.680 makers in government. 25:40.680 --> 25:45.890 Now in--on the--if we switch from Austin to Washington, 25:45.890 --> 25:52.640 the actors get to be different and the EPA, 25:52.640 --> 25:56.370 and The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 25:56.368 --> 26:03.488 and the key people in Congress like Henry Waxman or Senators 26:03.486 --> 26:09.726 Bingaman and Boxer, become big players, 26:09.729 --> 26:17.899 and the EDF and the NRDF, Natural Resource Defense Fund, 26:17.900 --> 26:20.050 become well staffed. 26:20.048 --> 26:25.268 They would each have fifty or so staff people in Washington 26:25.269 --> 26:33.059 and become a major presence, and the question in front of 26:33.060 --> 26:39.850 KKR and Texas Pacific hinges on what? 26:39.848 --> 26:43.778 Why do they--why are they messing around with all these 26:43.777 --> 26:45.447 environmental groups? 26:45.450 --> 26:49.450 It would sound like, from a purely economic point of 26:49.452 --> 26:52.662 view, to be a waste of time and yet 26:52.656 --> 26:57.186 from an entirely rational economic point of view, 26:57.190 --> 26:59.660 it isn't a waste of time. 26:59.660 --> 27:05.990 Why not? 27:05.990 --> 27:08.890 Well let's look--let's go to Wall Street. 27:08.890 --> 27:15.450 The private equity business in 2007 there were 794 large 27:15.451 --> 27:21.181 private equity transactions during that year, 27:21.180 --> 27:24.780 adding up to about $800 billion, so they average about 27:24.781 --> 27:26.211 $1 billion a piece. 27:26.210 --> 27:34.540 Explosive growth, they're up about 450% to 500% 27:34.544 --> 27:40.724 from 2000 to 2007, and it's a period when capital 27:40.715 --> 27:46.165 is abundant and cheap, so the--it is in every sense 27:46.166 --> 27:49.976 boom time for private equity. 27:49.980 --> 27:58.690 The--you've got three sets of players as seen from Wall 27:58.688 --> 28:00.138 Street. 28:00.140 --> 28:04.630 You've got private equity firms, the target firms, 28:04.630 --> 28:07.860 and the business services organizations, 28:07.858 --> 28:16.418 mainly investment banks which catalyze transactions of this 28:16.423 --> 28:23.073 kind and the takeover of TXU is a megadeal. 28:23.068 --> 28:30.528 It is the biggest transaction of its kind ever so it gets a 28:30.525 --> 28:37.205 lot of attention and offers to be very profitable. 28:37.210 --> 28:43.040 The institutional investors, shown upper left in the blue 28:43.040 --> 28:47.470 box, are limited partners in the 28:47.474 --> 28:55.714 funds created by organizations like KKR and Texas Pacific, 28:55.710 --> 29:01.980 and from their point of view, this is one of the highest 29:01.984 --> 29:07.124 yielding asset classes in their portfolio, 29:07.118 --> 29:11.458 and David Swenson, for example of Yale, 29:11.460 --> 29:16.090 one of the things he did with the Yale portfolio which made it 29:16.085 --> 29:20.405 grow so much faster after he came then it had grown at any 29:20.407 --> 29:23.287 time in the university's history, 29:23.288 --> 29:28.888 was to shift a great deal of capital away from publicly 29:28.887 --> 29:35.107 traded securities into private equity funds which differ-- 29:35.108 --> 29:40.238 they differ--the biggest difference between how well 29:40.240 --> 29:45.770 investment companies do with stocks and bonds on the one 29:45.772 --> 29:48.862 side, and private equity on the 29:48.856 --> 29:53.756 other, is the difference between the smart money and average 29:53.760 --> 29:54.510 money. 29:54.509 --> 29:58.379 In the stock market the difference between very smart 29:58.383 --> 30:02.633 money and fairly dumb money is a few percentage points. 30:02.630 --> 30:06.660 The difference in private equity between the smartest 30:06.657 --> 30:09.987 money and fairly dumb money is enormous, 30:09.990 --> 30:15.490 and so if an institutional investor like Yale, 30:15.490 --> 30:20.780 Harvard, or the big pension funds, can get into private 30:20.782 --> 30:25.952 equity with smart money, hire smart management, 30:25.946 --> 30:31.436 invest with people like Texas Pacific and KKR, 30:31.440 --> 30:38.530 the opportunity to beat the market in a big way is a very 30:38.530 --> 30:44.230 ripe one and that's the heart of this deal. 30:44.230 --> 30:47.790 Now from a sociological point of view, 30:47.788 --> 30:56.708 the people who run these companies are pretty far away 30:56.710 --> 31:02.830 from the green world, which centers in major 31:02.826 --> 31:09.916 metropolitan areas, and is populated by well to do 31:09.916 --> 31:14.856 activists, and their 501(c)(3) 31:14.857 --> 31:21.567 corporations, of which the ones in play today 31:21.568 --> 31:24.008 are examples. 31:24.009 --> 31:31.029 Now, the Pacific Group is a little different from KKR in its 31:31.030 --> 31:37.790 relationship to those groups, because it has one key player 31:37.788 --> 31:43.228 in William Riley, who had been the head of the 31:43.230 --> 31:50.500 EPA before and who is agreeing, and he gave--he gives Texas 31:50.503 --> 31:57.123 Pacific a relationship to this world which KKR pretty much 31:57.122 --> 31:58.982 doesn't have. 31:58.980 --> 32:03.220 David Bonderman, who is one of the founders of 32:03.217 --> 32:07.447 Texas Pacific, is Harvard educated and kind of 32:07.453 --> 32:09.623 part of this world. 32:09.618 --> 32:13.928 If you begin tracking personalities in these funds, 32:13.930 --> 32:20.210 Frances Beinecke, she of Yale fame, 32:20.210 --> 32:27.410 is the head of Natural Resources Defense Fund-- 32:27.410 --> 32:29.480 I don't know why I put C's instead of F's on the end of 32:29.481 --> 32:31.401 this-- the slides. 32:31.400 --> 32:38.670 She's the head of that, and a terrifically potent 32:38.665 --> 32:42.235 leader, and the reason the privileged 32:42.238 --> 32:46.708 access to do this case came to the Yale School of Management, 32:46.710 --> 32:52.180 has something to do with that particular connection. 32:52.180 --> 32:58.670 There is a cultural divide here, it is-- 32:58.670 --> 33:06.130 these are quite different views of the world and if we compare 33:06.127 --> 33:13.707 501(c)(3) corporations with regular public or not publicly-- 33:13.710 --> 33:17.110 publicly traded or not publicly traded corporations, 33:17.109 --> 33:20.379 we get some sharp contrasts. 33:20.380 --> 33:25.180 The business corporations are pursuing profit. 33:25.180 --> 33:31.500 The 501(c)(3)'s are pursuing a cause. 33:31.500 --> 33:38.050 The attitude to risk is far more aggressive among the 33:38.050 --> 33:39.690 businesses. 33:39.690 --> 33:44.540 The boards are accountable to, mainly to major investors on 33:44.535 --> 33:51.265 the business side, and to donors on the 501(c)(3) 33:51.271 --> 33:59.911 side except that in the really big old 501(c)(3)'s; 33:59.910 --> 34:03.220 they're accountable to no one because the donor is dead. 34:03.220 --> 34:05.430 The Carnegie Corporation, for example, 34:05.430 --> 34:08.070 where my wife is a chief investment officer, 34:08.070 --> 34:11.620 Andrew Carnegie hasn't paid any attention to their ledgers in 34:11.619 --> 34:15.469 some time, and it actually creates an 34:15.472 --> 34:23.182 enormous amount of free play at top management and board levels. 34:23.179 --> 34:27.289 The management culture on the business side is far more 34:27.286 --> 34:31.156 aggressive than on-- among the non-profits and top 34:31.159 --> 34:36.609 management compensation in-- particularly in private equity 34:36.614 --> 34:40.634 is high and variable and Jim would-- 34:40.630 --> 34:45.250 Jim pointed out to me that--Jim Alexander pointed out to me this 34:45.246 --> 34:49.856 morning that when I say high and variable the variability may or 34:49.864 --> 34:53.314 may not be well-tied to actual performance. 34:53.309 --> 34:57.019 You can get a lot of compensation for just sitting in 34:57.023 --> 35:01.313 the right chair during a bull market and many people have. 35:01.309 --> 35:06.669 On the non-profit side it--the compensation is relatively 35:06.668 --> 35:11.738 modest and more or less invariant with performance. 35:11.739 --> 35:15.739 Take for instance, Beinecke, there was a to do in 35:15.744 --> 35:19.504 this same year because somebody published-- 35:19.500 --> 35:24.170 their top salaries are also published and her salary of 35:24.170 --> 35:29.400 $252,000 was published, and there was a populist outcry. 35:29.400 --> 35:35.860 Now by private equity standards that's not a lot of money. 35:35.860 --> 35:39.790 Even by not--people on the investment side in organizations 35:39.791 --> 35:43.801 like this make three or four, or ten times that, 35:43.795 --> 35:47.975 but the general norm in non-profits is-- 35:47.980 --> 35:52.690 how many--are there people here who plan to become 35:52.686 --> 35:54.316 non-profiteers? 35:54.320 --> 35:55.960 Maybe? 35:55.960 --> 36:01.820 Okay, well the one thing you have to do is take a zero off 36:01.824 --> 36:05.534 when you think about compensation. 36:05.530 --> 36:11.260 More or less it's--that's about the ratio and its considerable, 36:11.257 --> 36:16.707 so these are two very different classes or organizations. 36:16.710 --> 36:23.070 Here we have Fred Krupp of The Natural Resources and Henry 36:23.068 --> 36:29.978 Kravitz, and I'll bet not one of you is in doubt about which is 36:29.983 --> 36:31.103 which. 36:31.099 --> 36:37.309 The pictures are--they get the point across, 36:37.306 --> 36:46.106 and why on earth would people on this side be so interested in 36:46.112 --> 36:52.322 participation from people on this side? 36:52.320 --> 36:59.190 Sasha, again. 36:59.190 --> 37:02.030 Student: If you ask them to do something with the 37:02.025 --> 37:04.345 business that makes them more money ultimately, 37:04.353 --> 37:05.673 then it's a good deal. 37:05.670 --> 37:10.720 Prof: You nailed it, and not one iota of direct 37:10.715 --> 37:16.235 concern for the environment is required to back that up. 37:16.239 --> 37:18.379 Right? 37:18.380 --> 37:21.440 So what's the biggest problem about TXU? 37:21.440 --> 37:26.990 Why is it--what--if you're going to sit down and calculate 37:26.987 --> 37:32.237 the risks from KKR and Texas Pacific's point of view of 37:32.242 --> 37:38.392 taking over this firm, what would the main risks be? 37:38.389 --> 37:42.109 They would be--would they be that the technology will fail? 37:42.110 --> 37:48.570 Would they be that consumer demand for electric power will 37:48.574 --> 37:50.734 suddenly go away? 37:50.730 --> 37:54.910 Would they be that a new entrant will come in; 37:54.909 --> 37:59.709 a large new entrant will come in, and begin to compete with 37:59.708 --> 38:00.948 lower prices? 38:00.949 --> 38:05.559 None of those things are imaginable. 38:05.559 --> 38:08.139 None of those are imaginable. 38:08.139 --> 38:12.629 So why isn't this just a license to print money? 38:12.630 --> 38:19.370 The answer to that is that the regulatory risk is substantial 38:19.373 --> 38:23.873 at both the federal and state levels, 38:23.869 --> 38:27.559 much more substantial at the federal level, 38:27.559 --> 38:38.199 and that the process by which the environmental groups would 38:38.201 --> 38:49.201 in effect bless or kosher the transaction is a way of limiting 38:49.202 --> 38:52.632 political risk. 38:52.630 --> 39:01.000 The EDF is all about the cause of the environment and their 39:00.998 --> 39:09.218 claim is that lobbying work they've done in the years from 39:09.224 --> 39:17.304 2001 to 2008 will diminish diesel pollution by nearly 90% 39:17.304 --> 39:21.974 by 2030, and that's their business. 39:21.969 --> 39:31.619 Their business is to get the government to compel companies 39:31.623 --> 39:34.623 to pollute less. 39:34.619 --> 39:37.449 Fred Krupp at Davos in the year of the case, 39:37.449 --> 39:40.639 this is not in the case: "The smartest companies 39:40.639 --> 39:44.259 can see over the horizon and anticipate consumer demands. 39:44.260 --> 39:47.110 That's why the EDF has been able to team with-- 39:47.110 --> 39:50.220 team up with ALCOA, DuPont, Caterpillar, 39:50.219 --> 39:53.919 GE, Duke Energy, BP America, and others on a 39:53.920 --> 39:59.090 plan that could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% to 80% by 39:59.085 --> 39:59.855 2050. 39:59.860 --> 40:02.790 The plan is a jobs winner as well as an environmental 40:02.793 --> 40:03.643 winner." 40:03.639 --> 40:11.049 So organizations like these are brokers in which they cut deals 40:11.048 --> 40:16.018 with businesses, and the businesses they cut the 40:16.023 --> 40:21.523 deals with are ones which have a higher than average capacity to 40:21.518 --> 40:24.308 withstand tighter regulation. 40:24.309 --> 40:27.429 For example, GE with Eco Imagination, 40:27.434 --> 40:29.784 you've all heard of that? 40:29.780 --> 40:34.400 If you watch television for any period as long as an hour you 40:34.396 --> 40:39.316 have been saturated with that message, and why can GE do that? 40:39.320 --> 40:41.240 Well why does it have to do it? 40:41.239 --> 40:46.689 What's GE's long-term reputation for environmental 40:46.686 --> 40:48.016 pollution? 40:48.018 --> 40:51.298 It is that they filled the Hudson River with PCB's fifty 40:51.295 --> 40:53.995 years ago, and it's important to them to 40:54.001 --> 40:57.731 get us off that topic and to think of them in a different 40:57.733 --> 40:58.203 way. 40:58.199 --> 41:01.939 Second, they compete in Europe for the manufacture of 41:01.936 --> 41:05.816 electrically powered equipment, and the regs in Europe are much 41:05.820 --> 41:08.840 tighter than they are here from an environmental point of view, 41:08.840 --> 41:13.090 so they have developed a technology to meet much higher 41:13.094 --> 41:14.044 standards. 41:14.039 --> 41:19.339 They've got it already in the kit, and so from their point of 41:19.342 --> 41:24.822 view, it is actually a corporate strategy play to encourage the 41:24.822 --> 41:27.122 feds to raise the bar. 41:27.119 --> 41:31.739 Cap and trade, I'm running out of time here, 41:31.739 --> 41:37.959 cap and trade diagram--the interesting side fact that cap 41:37.956 --> 41:42.506 and trade in the EU basically fizzled, 41:42.510 --> 41:49.890 and it fizzled because the caps that were put on the countries 41:49.894 --> 41:57.164 were not low enough to make people go out and buy credits. 41:57.159 --> 42:03.109 They were set in a very gentle political way and the market for 42:03.108 --> 42:09.148 cap and trade depends on people having to break the caps and buy 42:09.152 --> 42:16.192 credits to make up for that, and the caps were set so high 42:16.193 --> 42:21.943 that it didn't produce the desired effect. 42:21.940 --> 42:24.320 I don't know why that slide is there. 42:24.320 --> 42:32.320 Now let's think about outcomes. 42:32.320 --> 42:34.120 We've got on the vertical dimension, 42:34.119 --> 42:37.879 Green World, and on the horizontal dimension 42:37.878 --> 42:42.498 Green Paper, and the four big quadrants--the 42:42.503 --> 42:48.493 four quadrants of this space define points we could think 42:48.489 --> 42:54.799 about in looking at what the risks and possibilities of this 42:54.797 --> 42:59.927 are for these two classes of organizations. 42:59.929 --> 43:05.069 Down here, emissions are high and profits are low is a 43:05.074 --> 43:10.804 catastrophe on both dimensions and the likelihood of both of 43:10.800 --> 43:14.780 those things happening is very small. 43:14.780 --> 43:22.830 The story where you have both high emissions and high profits, 43:22.833 --> 43:30.233 this is the most worrying category from the point of view 43:30.228 --> 43:32.208 of the EDF. 43:32.210 --> 43:36.860 This would constitute green washing which has become a 43:36.856 --> 43:42.376 really important epithet in the politics of the environment, 43:42.380 --> 43:46.870 where they're blessing something which is a pretend 43:46.873 --> 43:52.213 benefit to the environment, and here is the disaster from 43:52.210 --> 43:56.310 the point of view of KKR and Texas Pacific, 43:56.309 --> 44:02.979 where you have both low emissions and low profits and do 44:02.981 --> 44:10.141 you think KKR and Texas Pacific enter into this relationship 44:10.137 --> 44:17.167 fearing the risk that EDF and The Natural Resources Defense 44:17.173 --> 44:23.003 Fund will encourage the imposition of standard so 44:22.996 --> 44:28.816 Draconian that they can't make a living? 44:28.820 --> 44:34.900 Well no, they wouldn't have chosen EDF as the lead agency if 44:34.896 --> 44:41.386 EDF were of the same temperament as the street theatre we saw in 44:41.387 --> 44:42.827 the video. 44:42.829 --> 44:48.169 They chose EDF because they think they can cut a plausible 44:48.172 --> 44:52.862 and constructive bargain with them which leads, 44:52.860 --> 44:56.080 not upper left but upper right in the diagram, 44:56.079 --> 45:08.109 for emissions decrease in a substantial degree and profits 45:08.106 --> 45:11.056 remain high. 45:11.059 --> 45:15.709 This slide is in the--is from the case and it's the full 45:15.713 --> 45:20.963 inventory of exactions that Jim Marston and EDF people consider 45:20.960 --> 45:25.820 in looking at the case, and they call it the blue sky 45:25.818 --> 45:28.648 concessions, because it's perfectly clear 45:28.646 --> 45:30.966 they're not going to get all of these, 45:30.969 --> 45:35.429 but they want some of them and they get some of them, 45:35.429 --> 45:40.339 and they also get quite a lot of symbolic buy in so that by 45:40.342 --> 45:44.432 the current year 2009, KKR is offering an investment 45:44.425 --> 45:47.605 portfolio which it calls the green portfolio, 45:47.610 --> 45:52.610 and this consists not of companies that are going to 45:52.614 --> 45:58.214 devote themselves to producing environmental products, 45:58.210 --> 46:01.690 but rather to companies which produce other products. 46:01.690 --> 46:05.550 For example, in Biomet, produce medical 46:05.548 --> 46:11.848 devices but where they sign onto the proposition that they will 46:11.846 --> 46:18.546 make their production process far greener than it was before, 46:18.550 --> 46:23.500 so that I as an investor can buy into the green fund, 46:23.500 --> 46:29.250 and expect market rates of return and think that on the 46:29.251 --> 46:35.431 side I'm doing a little bit of good for the environment. 46:35.429 --> 46:57.819 [Video 46:37-47:08.] Okay so--and they all went to 46:57.822 --> 47:15.192 the beach and had a swell afternoon. 47:15.190 --> 47:21.630 The--okay so that's the last case we're going to do, 47:21.630 --> 47:26.430 except the one for your final, and what I hope you'll do for 47:26.427 --> 47:30.817 Wednesday is read the Finnegan piece with some care. 47:30.820 --> 47:32.950 He's a brilliant writer. 47:32.949 --> 47:36.279 I got to know him personally when he came to write about 47:36.282 --> 47:39.072 violent kids in New Haven twenty years ago, 47:39.070 --> 47:45.330 and it's a beautifully written piece and it's a compelling 47:45.331 --> 47:48.491 story, and also begin reviewing your 47:48.485 --> 47:51.915 notes for the big picture flow of the course. 47:51.920 --> 47:58.000