vote your opinion on price OR availability

[Pete Burton]

inspired by a recent thread, which has sort of spiraled into a capitalism vs. socialism debate, I thought this might make it clearer. The choice is really either fit the price to the market or the market to the price.

[dannym]

How should electricity be available?
A-At market price whenever we want it
B-At government regulated price whenever It's available?

[Pete Burton]

definitely A. Regulation has brought the inefficiency of operation and neglected infrastructure we have today. BTW, how's the power situation down there in Florida? I've heard a lot of people are still without power. If you can't read this yet don't worry, the government is coming to help, soon.

[amccoy]

It is actually deregulation that has led to the current state of sadly neglected infrastructure. This is the logical and natural end product we should predict from little or no government oversight. It is the cause of the power problems in California and the huge blackouts in the midwest/northeast a couple years back. If you want truly free market electricity move to africa, india, or rural mexico where power is produced without government assistance or regulation.
I am not a big fan of government over-regulation of the market, but energy and transportation are the two areas government regulation makes sense.

[boneheaddoctor]

maybe the phone companies should be freed of regualation too....then let them charge what it really costs..........

[Pete Burton]

Originally Posted by boneheaddoctor

maybe the phone companies should be freed of regualation too....then let them charge what it really costs..........

I certainly agree. If they can charge more and the market will bear it, let them. They won't charge too much because other media will undercut them.

[dannym]

Originally Posted by Pete Burton

definitely A. Regulation has brought the inefficiency of operation and neglected infrastructure we have today. BTW, how's the power situation down there in Florida? I've heard a lot of people are still without power. If you can't read this yet don't worry, the government is coming to help, soon.

LOL.......that's funny.
Jeb Bush, The retarded brother of out president went public that he was going to make a showcase of Florida's disaster response. The first mistake he made was believing people had enough sense to stock up on 2 or 3 days worth of unperishable goods. Being told to do so is imaterial.
The second mistake he made was believing FEMA was competent. Their trucks got lost and other levels of incompetance were apparent.

Anyway we didn't feel any efects of Wilma here. But I did have some friends up here from West Palm this weekend. So they could take a hot shower and eat some real food for a couple of days. As I understand it they just got power back on today.

I forgot to mention Captain Courageous repealed the "Public Utility Holding Company Act". This was the main law to protect the consumer from market manipulation, fraud and abuse in the energy sector.
If you thought fuel prices were bad wait till you see what happens to electricity.

Ok everyone, bend over.

Danny

[POS]

Originally Posted by dannym

The first mistake he made was believing people had enough sense to stock up on 2 or 3 days worth of unperishable goods. Being told to do so is imaterial.
The second mistake he made was believing FEMA was competent. Their trucks got lost and other levels of incompetance were apparent.

The biggest mistake anyone can make is depending on your government in the first place. Their job is to protect its citizens, not regulate market conditions and save me from hurricanes.

[Pete Burton]

Originally Posted by POS

The biggest mistake anyone can make is depending on your government in the first place. Their job is to protect its citizens, not regulate market conditions and save me from hurricanes.

well said.

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by Pete Burton

I certainly agree. If they can charge more and the market will bear it, let them. They won't charge too much because other media will undercut them.

Got no problem with that.....if thats what the market demands...as it is they have to cut their own throats trying to outlast the next guy to get market share to break even since they can't raise prices thanks to regulation.

[Glinko]

Originally Posted by dannym

How should electricity be available?
A-At market price whenever we want it
B-At government regulated price whenever It's available?

There is no market for electricity, electric companies in the US are allowed to have a controlled monopoly over a service area, so that there will be no clutter on the power lines, or confusion over who is getting what. Same deal with the Postal service.

Ever notice that you don't have a choice over which electric company you wish to recieve power from?

[dannym]

CONTROLLED MONOPOLY being the key words there.
They are regulated because of that fact. There is no competition to keep prices in line.
Same thing with oil and fuel.

The biggest mistake anyone can make is depending on your government in the first place. Their job is to protect its citizens, not regulate market conditions and save me from hurricanes.

Yeah you were doing great until you got to the "Regulate market conditions" part. Guess you never heard of the SEC? Securities and Exchange commission?

[TimFreeh]

Originally Posted by Glinko

Same deal with the Postal service.

Huh?

Does this mean I've broken some sort of law when I send a package via Fed-ex or UPS?

If we nationalized the oil business Diesel would cost $12 a gallon and you would be able to purchase it twice a month at a centralized location 50 miles from your house. You would also have to place your fuel orders two years in advance and you would have to fill out weekly logs to prove you used all the fuel you purchased and did not buy it so sell on the secondary market. If your logs did not match the amount of fuel purchased a government agent would be paying you a visit to perform an "energy use audit".

It's amazing and depressing to me that anybody could really want the government to take over the oil exploration and refining tasks.

Pete Burton,

GREAT THREAD!

All I want to say is: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

What ever happened to personal responsibility? I can tell you this, I still take responsibility for my own actions.

About 30 years or so ago, there was a guy in the DFW area that was CEO of an oil services company. For those of you with no knowledge of the oil industry, those are guys who work on oil wells, not refine and sell fuel. The guys name was Eddie Childs. Well, one election year he started running public service messages on the radio. He was not promoting any candidate or party, he was only encouraging people to go vote.

His pitch was something like "these politicians work for you. If you don't like what they're doing, FIRE 'EM." His other line was "all I want the government to do is deliver my mail on time and LEAVE ME ALONE." Of course, that was before the Post Office was "privatized." I'm right there with him with those statements.

Thanks again for the thread. It is making a good point.

Have a great day,

[Old300D]

Originally Posted by dannym

How should electricity be available?
A-At market price whenever we want it
B-At government regulated price whenever It's available?

The key here is "Market Price". If we had competetion, we would get the lowest prices. But we don't. We have a government supported oligarchy that controls prices to ensure maximum profits for all, including the politicians that wrote the legislation.