|
California’s bout with energy shortages offers a classic
case study in what happens when a state or nation is dependent on
other nations for their energy sources. You get the raw end of
the deal; you’re at the mercy of the profit-seeking supplier.
In this year of intermittent blackouts and power company
bankruptcies, the state of the Beautiful People is forced to
procure its power from other, energy-rich states, most notably
from that veritable wasteland checkered with thousands of
harmful, evil power plants, the greatest state in the Union—TEXAS.
Governor Gray Davis’ recent column in the Washington Post
showed the despondency of the liberal democrats now at the helm
of the nation’s largest state. Handcuffed for years by the
environmental tree-huggers from both parties during the past
decade plus, Davis’ piece illustrates the blame shifting now
being done by these same liberals, as they deflect criticism for
the current crisis. Instead of accepting responsibility, the
clueless Davis instead blames everyone under the sun for
California’s problems, excluding the real culprit, him and his
ilk.
He blames the free market, that blessed engine of capitalism.
Davis’ contends that deregulation of the state’s electricity
industry is the problem. Predictably, how or why this would be
the case, he doesn’t explain. He opines: "Although
Californians were promised lower rates and plentiful supply,
both predictions have turned out to be disastrously wrong. We
now have seen our first statewide rolling blackouts since World
War II." Here, the governor is only partly right, though.
Because while deregulation allows for potentially increasing
competition by freeing up industry, which usually leads to lower
rates, these lower rates are dependent on the other side of the
equation—Supply. You can have all the deregulation in the
world, but if you don’t increase supply to meet demand, rates
will continue to be high. Governor Davis doesn’t understand
this principle of economics.
To his credit, though, he mentions the lack of any new power
plants over the past 14 years as "centermost" to the
state’s failure. However, according to the governor, his
administration’s energy commission "has licensed 14 new
major power plants." A handful of these may be fully
operable as early as this summer he says. If that’s the case,
they better hurry up. More than likely, though, the plants under
construction won’t be functional for another two years
according to energy experts.
Governor Davis’ admittance of the lack of power plant
construction as being casual in this crisis is certainly a
start, but the democrat doesn’t touch on the subject again in
his column. You would think that this "centermost" (as
he termed it) problem would offer the best solution to
California’s ills, but the governor aims his vitriol at other
factors and players, all of which can be identified with either
George W. Bush or the free enterprise system.
He turns his attention to the "unheard of wholesale
prices for power" that have bankrupted the state’s
largest utility and "threaten to bankrupt the second
largest and have begun to seriously affect" California’s
economy. As everyone knows, deregulation allowed the state
utility supply companies to go outside of the state to purchase
power; this was an alternative to intrastate supplies. While
this worked alright for a while, when California couldn’t
(wasn’t allowed to) generate its own additional supplies to
meet the demand of an additional 10 million souls that entered
the state over the past decade, the state was forced to garner
power almost exclusively from other states.
And now, these unregulated evil capitalists from outlaw
places like Texas and elsewhere in the South are selling power
to the needy Californians at higher rates then the governor
would like to pay. He finds this completely unfair, even cruel,
even though his state and his party kept California from being
self-sufficient by not building anymore freaking power plants
for nearly 15 years! What did he expect to happen when the state
takes on 10 million residents over that same time span??? Oh
well, Governor Davis doesn’t want to accept the blame due him
and his left-wing party. He continues to blame the free market
and big oil and big gas and big electricity for the current
plight he finds himself in.
The reason that firms like Houston based Reliant Energy can
sell a megawatt hour for $1,900 to those liberal paupers in
California is because California has no alternative supplier to
compete with Reliant or other companies. Certainly having to pay
this amount when you once paid an average of $30 for a megawatt
hour is unfortunate for the people of California. But liberals
are to blame, not these energy companies that are only seeking a
profit, as the free market encourages all its players to pursue.
When you discourage construction of power plants or halt it all
together, sooner or later you’ll be at the mercy of another
supplier. That’s common sense. You can increase the production
capacity of already existing plants, but this is a short-term
solution. New and bigger plants are the answer and perhaps
alternative energy sources as well. But until these plants are
workable or until alternative sources are sufficiently
developed, whatever the market will bear as far as prices are
concerned, will determine how much California pays for power.
To stop these "price gouging" capitalists, Governor
Davis calls on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to step
in and install temporary price controls. This typical government
solution would probably ease (temporarily) the problem, to be
sure, but federal intervention is a stupid thing. It sets bad
precedent, and it encourages liberals to repeat their folly with
the knowledge that Uncle Sam will bail them out; they won’t be
discouraged in the slightest from a repeat performance.
California must be made an example of what happens when liberal
buffoons highjack a state’s political controls, and enact
inane green policies that punish Americans for joyous
consumption and eventually leave millions of residents in the
dark. I applaud President Bush’s hands-off approach and hope
he continues to resist the idea of intervention. He must squash
this entitlement mentality that says government solves all
problems, takes all responsibility for states’ and individuals’
mess-ups, and remedies dilemmas that have free market solutions.
The President’s current resolve is the beginning of the
weaning process.
Conservatives warned for years that this was going to happen.
Conservatives on the Assembly floor in Sacramento would rant
about the need for new power plants; they were roundly dismissed
as capitalist friendly loons, though. "By golly, California
sure wasn’t going to "destroy" the environment by
appeasing the evil white capitalists," I’m sure the libs
said amongst themselves. But as the mean conservatives forecast,
California was on the road to shortages. And now, the liberals
have what they’ve always wanted-a socialist utopia of darkness
tempered by candlelight and wheat sprouts.
California will get back on track…eventually. But not
before they invest in the construction of additional power
plants and other energy generating complexes, be they nuclear,
geo-thermal or otherwise. Until then, Californians must suffer;
they must be made to remember what happens when people that
value marijuana and whales more than baby humans and comfortable
living are enabled to make policy for an entire state. After
this experience, maybe the people of California will wise up and
elect more conservatives that have their best interests in mind,
including accoutrements that involve electricity and gasoline,
which permit travel and computers and cooking. And for all
Californians that knew better, I sympathize with you. Either
ride out the storm and wait till the new plants come on line, or
else move your families elsewhere, like Texas, where energy is
plentiful.
As for the nation as a whole, this situation with California
provides a classic example of what might happen if we too
continue to rely on foreign sources of energy to meet our
demands. Do we want to be at the mercy of our Arab enemies or
the Russians or anyone else for crude oil or natural gas or
coal? If we ever are, we’ll have only ourselves to blame.
Related web sites:
Impeach Gray Davis
Grayout 2002
|
Shop PUSA
The Last Energy War: The Battle
over Utility Deregulation
by Harvey Wasserman
Scan your PC for viruses now!
Magazine of the Month
Privatization, Restructuring, and
Regulation of Network Utilities
by David M. Newbery
DVD's Under $10 at buy.com!
Cigar.com
Reinventing
Electric Utilities: Competition, Citizen Action, and Clean Power
by Ed Smeloff
Leather -
Sale (30 to 50% off)
Shop for Your Princess at DisneyStore.com 
No One Left To Lie To:
The Values of the Worst Family
by Christopher Hitchens
Search
the Web for:
Death Penalty
Ronald
Reagan
Middle
East
MP3
Web Music
George
W. Bush
Saddam Hussein
Online Gambling
Auto Loans
Free Online Games
NFL
Nascar
Britney Spears
|
