It seems that though our Nation's Capitol offers some pretty stiff competition for California's Legislature in the corruption department, I think we may still have them beat.
Our Governor's running around giving away your cash to "bail out" the utility company's that they put into this predicament in the first place. The dishonest part is that our state government refuses to tell the people what really happened. In th end, we have only ourselves to blame.
It wasn't deregulation that got us in this mess. It was California State Governments regulations on the Power companies and the Power companies desire to be regulated monopolies.
I can never emphasize this point enough:
As long as you allow businesses to contribute to campaign funds, you will have a corrupt government. It's that simple. This problem has been known about for 30 years. Yet corporate America and our Politicians wanted to maintain control. The media has been no help either. Now, all of the sudden, corporate America will get the bail out because the minute our lights go out we become pretty open with our wallets. This whole situation was a little more than contrived. We are playing right into their hands. Why else would PG&E's stock prices be rising as I write this???
Real Solution:
Deregulate all the way and watch as alternative sources of power start springing up all over the country. If the price goes high enough, we the people will get around it with more energy efficient appliances and self generating power concepts. Those appliances are out there now, but misled by a false sense of security put in place by the state government and PG&E, most of us have never taken alternatives seriously. After all, the law was keeping our rates low. So low in fact that they drove the Power Companies into Bankruptcy. That Bankruptcy will get them the funding they need from the tax payers. The Powers that Be stay in power and we pay the higher prices they sought all along!
What does Bankruptcy mean?
This is what could happen if the state (you the taxpayer) doesn't bail out the power companies now.
What will happen instead of the progressive solution?
Wake up America! Socialism was why the U.S.S.R. went bankrupt. Socialism in America, whether it be over electricity or gas, won't work either.
I hope I turned the light on for some of you folks out there!
P.S. Don't forget to buy your APS power back-up system to protect your computers and your data. The Small Businessman will start selling these this week!
P.S.S. I missed my seat on the PUC Board here in California by approximately 100 votes. The incumbent won.
Michael P. Murphy 1/18/01
Author - The Greens
Watch for the upcoming novel - The Corporation
Send comments to the author: mmurphy@smallbusinessman.com
* errors: my spell checker thinks words like organization are spelled organisation, so watch out for "s" and "z" replacements in all my articles. I try to check the checker, but????