Busjack Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Interesting Tribune retrospective on Insull, which includes his control of the Rapid Transit, as well as interurbans and public utilities. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkohut Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Interesting Tribune retrospective on Insull, which includes his control of the Rapid Transit, as well as interurbans and public utilities. You can say What you want about the man.But,he had a vision before the depression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 You can say What you want about the man.But,he had a vision before the depression. Not mentioned is that he also pushed the pyramid structure of holding companies, which ultimately led to the empire's demise. Comm Ed had a stake in CRT, some other company had a small stake in Comm Ed, and up the chain, at which point he controlled the whole empire by controlling Middle West Utilities. Then debt was loaded on the companies at the bottom of the pyramid. Then, in the face of a hostile buyout, he further pyramided the companies. The problem is that if you were a public investor in Comm Ed, NIPSCO, or the like, you didn't have control, but got wiped out. This led to the Public Utilities Holding Company Act, which was recently repealed. Some sources liken this to Enron, except that Insull was charged but never convicted. Also, Insull actually generated electricity, as opposed to Enron pretty much merely manipulating its price. Encyclopedia.com seems about as good a source as what is available free on the web. It also mentions "influence peddling in Illinois elections," something that persists to the current day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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