They are Not Shareholders, They are Unindicted Co-Conspirators

It looks like PG&E is planning to declare bankruptcy.

Many people are concerned about the fate of the shareholders, but they, or their fund managers/hedge funds, knew that PG&E had a cavalier attitude toward safety and infrastructure, ans so those investors deserve to lose their investments:

Utilities have long been considered ultrasafe bets. But PG&E Corp.’s
announcement Monday that it will file for bankruptcy is teaching investors that isn’t always true.

The Baupost Group LLC, Viking Global Investors LP and BlueMountain Capital Management LLC were among the hedge funds that snapped up shares of PG&E Corp. during the third quarter of 2018, just before the deadliest wildfire in California history triggered an existential crisis for the state’s largest utility.

That crisis entered a new phase Monday when PG&E said that it intends to seek chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of the month due to more than $30 billion it faces related to its role in sparking deadly California wildfires in 2017 and 2018. That sent its shares down 52%. Shares have now fallen 83% since the fire began on Nov. 8 and bonds are down 25%. The price of PG&E bonds due in 2034 fell about 8% Monday, according to MarketAxess.

You have to understand something here: People were not investing in PG&E IN SPITE OF their horrible safety record, they did so BECAUSE of their horrible safety record.

They looked at fires, and pipeline explosions, and pollution, and thought, "These are people truly committed to extracting the last possible penny out of any situation, no matter who they hurt or kill."

The shareholders should be wiped out.

The bondholders should be wiped out.

The executives should be wiped out, and jailed in a SuperMax as a warning to others.

And then, it's capital should become state owned.