Tor Forde wrote:
>
> Hello!
> I am continuing one of my threads.
> I have been writing about the liberalisation of the market for
> electricity in Norway. To recapitulate:
>
> The regulations of the waterlevel in the dams which contains the
> water of the hydroelectrical powerplants were removed, and the dams
> went empty afterwards. This had never happened before because in
> years with less rain than usual we used to buy so much electricity
> from Sweden that we managed without turning our mountain lakes into
> deserts and mud. But when the regulations were removed the utilities
> were allowed to create these local ecological catastrophes. People
> were angry.
[snip]
What a "lovely" (i.e., paradigmatic) example of the "benefits" (i.e.,
consequences) of "deregulation", or, as Tor's posting labels it in
the even more euphemistic and euphonious word: "liberalization"!
All deregulation is relative, of course. Just as there is no
such thing as total regulation (even in Stalinist countries, people
had *some* control over how long they had which lights on in their
places of work and domicilage...), so too there is no total
deregulation (the Mafia/et al. imposes discipline on its members and
nonmembers...). So what we always have is a question of where to
position ourselves (more usually, of course: *others*!) on a
[probably n-dimensional, with n > 2] *spectrum*:
<---*-------------*------------*-------------*--------------*----->
Stalinism Social Reagan / Ideological "Anarchy"
(etc.) Deomcracy Thatcherism Laissez-faire
Totalitarian Humane Right-to-life (a fantasy)
Breakdown
Dictatorship Society for Capital of social order
<------ Laws and their enforcement exist ----------><----- The --->
fittest survive
Things happen according to coordinated by whatever means
social negotiation of some kind available
So, the question always is: where do those who have a choice wish to
situate the social world on some such spectrum? What persons do
they wish to let participate in the deliberative processs? Only at the
very far right end of the line do we have genuine lack of regulation.
Everywhere else it's a question of what kind of regulation of what
persons in regard to what activities.
There is a lovely appreciation of the 150th anniversary of Marx and
Engels' "Communist Manifesto" on the back page of this week's
(26 April 98) New York Times Book Review.
\brad mccormick
--
Mankind is not the master of all the stuff that exists, but
Everyman (woman, child) is a judge of the world.
Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua, NY 10514-3403 USA
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<![%THINK;[SGML]]> Visit my website ==> http://www.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
