I recall the sunny coverage of the LA water dept as an example of what was done right in a public owned utility, since they had surplus to sell, not just provide for their own customers.
As I understand you, Harry, Gov Gray Davis is an accessory to a business crime. But Enron and the other power cheaters were the primary source, the perpetrators of the crises, taking advantage of a system that couldn't anticipate their moves and catch them in the act at the time it was being perpetrated. They were thugs in suits. Let's not forget we have a mafia of utility and energy companies, people who deliberately broke the rules. Just because we are all monkeys doesn't mean that some of us monkeys don't cheat and steal from other monkeys. Which we blame is according to our priorities. Who are the bad guys? The cheaters or those who failed to stop them? I was talking with an old boyfriend last night who is a lawyer. He is a frat brother of Comm. Sec. Don Evans and his family used to run in the same social circles with the elder Bushes in Houston. He was a pilot who went overseas rather than TANG (Texas Air National Guard) where GDubya found shelter. His impression of the man now in the White House hasn't changed from the old days when they both were unforgiven, skirt-chasing drunks. He was ticked off by Pres GDubya's targeting of lawyers vis a vis tort reform, alluding several times in the SOU about "frivolous lawsuits". He reminded me that this was just a court room move to distract the jury from something else. We also discussed the tendency since Nixon to surround the White House with lawyers. He said that Nixon "fell" because Erhlichman wasn't a lawyer. Everyone else could use lawyer-client privilege. "Donnie", he says, referring to Evans, couldn't be chief of staff because he's not a lawyer. He still has breakfast with the President every morning but must remain officially out of the "privileged commentary" loop. By the way, my friend absolutely agreed with me that everything Gov. Bush did while in Texas was geared to running for President, that it had about as much to do with serving as governor of the great state of Texas as my learning a new software for something I want to do on my computer makes me the programmer. He also thinks that if GDubya had sons rather than daughters he wouldn't be so gung-ho for war, but that's an idiosyncrasy. Teddy Roosevelt introduced the American public to the concept and phrase "Big Government". He was moving, with great passion, to counteract the domination of the working public by Robber Barons who had taken over the economy and most of the wealth of the nation. Karl Rove may try to "plant" the image of TR and GW together in the American mind following the corporate scandals, but GDubya is no Teddy Roosevelt. So the game here is to blame the lawyers for everything that doesn't smell clean in government, like blaming the politicians for all criminal intent. - Karen Karen, We didn't need Enron - our idiots were perfectly able to be stupid without outside help. Actually, the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power sold electricity during the crisis. They weren't involved in the state's plans for deregulation, nor were they required to separate their production from distribution - as were the private companies. Of course, you are entitled to have your own idiots. America wouldn't be the same without them. Harry ------------------------------------------------------------------ Karen wrote: >Amazing, Harry, that you have managed to overlook the critical role that a >fake energy crises generated by Enron and her playmates made to the debacle >that was the California summer of blackouts but in reality, was a broader >Western power crisis and higher energy contracts, which now have been >legally recognized to have been initiated by corporate malfeasance. >Oregon had some ripple effects there, too, as we sent you our surplus, >threatening our own supply at home. In addition to the OTHER bad news on >our front pages this week, we're reading the Bonneville Power Administration >(BPA) is still struggling with a financial sinkhole that opened up when it >offered new contracts to its customers just as the "Western power crises >exploded in reaction to California's market cataclysm." >This story is not just about 1 Governor and a bad decision regarding >deregulation. - Karen >The Bonneville Power Administration is ensnared in a financial sinkhole >By Tom Detzel, The Oregonian 01/30/03 >WASHINGTON - The bad news just keeps coming for the Bonneville Power >Administration as it struggles to climb out of a chronic financial crisis. >During the past six months, the federal power-marketing agency that supplies >nearly half the Northwest's electricity has struggled to pare back a $1.2 >billion budget deficit only to have a meager winter snowpack add $250 >million more to the problem. >The agency's utility customers, still smarting from rate surcharges that >will reach 50 percent this spring, soon face the prospect of even higher >rates that Stephen Wright, BPA administrator, is expected to propose as >early as next week. >"We're not talking about a 1 or 2 percenter here," Wright said. "We're >talking about a significant number." - Precisely how significant, Wright >would not say. But many customer groups are expecting a double-digit >addition to the current surcharge, with some analysts estimating it could >grow to 60 or 70percent. The rate decision presents a delicate balancing >test for Wright, a BPA veteran who managed the Washington, D.C., office for >eight years and took over the agency's helm at the apex of the Western power >crisis in November 2000. >Every 1 percent boost in the BPA's rate means a $20 million hit on the >Northwest's economy. Wright will have to weigh the impact of a rate >increase against Oregon's highest-in-the-nation jobless rate and longing for >a regional recovery. Yet the BPA's financial condition is so dire that the >agency is at risk of running out of cash to operate. For the second year in >a row, it might not be able to make a $736 million payment on debts owed to >the U.S. Treasury. >How high to raise rates is as much a political decision as a financial one. >"This is such a precarious time," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who with >other Northwest politicians has urged Wright to minimize the increase. >"Just look at what people are faced with in schools and layoffs and the fact >that agriculture is hit so hard." >BPA power -- drawn from 29 federal dams in the Columbia River system and one >nuclear plant in Washington -- is sold at cost to the region's public and >investor-owned utilities, aluminum companies and large irrigators. Another >BPA rate increase would accelerate a historic shift in the economics of >Northwest power in the past two years. >Since the BPA's creation in the late 1930s, the region consistently had some >of the lowest electricity costs nationwide, a big competitive advantage for >backbone industries such as timber, aluminum, aircraft and high-tech. >But since the power crisis, the average cost of electricity has risen >sharply. Oregon and Washington now rank solidly in the middle among states, >according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Energy Information >Administration. (end of excerpt) > >http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1043932416142 6 >0.xml > >Harry wrote: When our present idiot became California governor four years >ago, he >inherited a $12 billion surplus. > >It is now a $35 billion deficit (it was much less until he was elected, >whereupon they found how large it was). So, they are now fiddling around, >cutting educational and hospital outlays - the less important things. > >Neither Wilson, the Republican idiot, nor Davis the present Democratic >idiot, noticed that the population increased by 20% over a decade without >any increase in power supply. When we were in deep trouble they lately >built a couple in ten minutes - or at least pretty quickly. > >Then, of course, they "deregulated electricity". They were as good at this >as they are with most "privatization" schemes. They freed wholesale prices >but kept retail prices fixed. Wholesale prices zoomed, but the local >distributors were unable to raise prices. This meant they began to go >broke. This led to a rash of rushed and thoughtless legislation - and chaos. > >Then, the normal action of the price mechanism took over and wholesale >prices dropped to their lowest. Not that this made any difference because >the idiot entered into a long range contract for power at the top of the >market. Now, it's pretty cheap - but we are stuck with that high priced >contract. (The governor is now trying to void it, but I'm not sure how much >luck he's had. They are all pals together, after all) > >I no longer blame the inept and venal CEOs for their antics. I see now that >they are merely trying to get the same treatment as inept and venal >politicians. ****************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 ******************************* _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
