Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 16:28:26 +1000 From: "Doug Young" <dougy@bryden.apana.org.au> To: <cjclark@alum.mit.edu>, "Jeremiah Gowdy" <jgowdy@home.com>, "Brett Glass" <brett@lariat.org> Cc: "Jason" <kib@mediaone.net>, <ldmservices@charter.net>, <chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: CA Power Shortage (was Re: Why do you support Yahoo!) Message-ID: <000d01c06a4e$15def320$847e03cb@apana.org.au> References: <001d01c06a2d$279654d0$aa240018@cx443070b> <002301c06a1d$a52783c0$19bad818@debbie> <002701c06a25$27e7c9d0$aa240018@cx443070b> <006a01c06a40$11ffc580$ad181f40@bignet.net> <06fc01c06a28$7d9c3840$847e03cb@apana.org.au> <00b401c06a45$4d279020$ad181f40@bignet.net> <001d01c06a2d$279654d0$aa240018@cx443070b> <4.3.2.7.2.20001219223202.0467c4e0@localhost>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Whilst this is hardly the "proper" place for political debate, the point about "corporations have as much power over our lives -- if not more -- than governments" is a very real problem these days .... and not only in the US either !!!! When one considers that the head of state in most western countries is "officially" paid a fraction of what the "head of state" for major corporations earns, its obvious that many of these corporations are in a position to buy & sell virtually anyone they wish. eg its difficult for those of us outside the US to know exactly what dealings went on in order to get Bush in the White House, however some of us with nasty suspicious minds harbour a feeling that he didn't get there on the basis of personal ability. Not that OZ politicians are adverse to politicial shenanigans ...... a fair percentage of them are likely to end up with "free accommodation" shortly as a result of certain deceased persons who still managed to cast a vote or five, despite the fact that whatever is left of them is a couple meters underground !!!! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brett Glass" <brett@lariat.org> To: <cjclark@alum.mit.edu>; "Jeremiah Gowdy" <jgowdy@home.com> Cc: "Jason" <kib@mediaone.net>; "Doug Young" <dougy@bryden.apana.org.au>; <ldmservices@charter.net>; <chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 3:38 PM Subject: Re: CA Power Shortage (was Re: Why do you support Yahoo!) > At 10:22 PM 12/19/2000, Crist J. Clark wrote: > > >That's really strange. A lot of the current shortage is due to the > >fact that the power companies are legally not allowed to pass higher > >costs to the consumers. > > That's not the full story. California power producers weighed the > huge expense of building more power plants -- especially with > California's environmental sentiments -- against the higher prices > they would be allowed to reap if they didn't (due to deregulation > and anticipated scarcity) and decided not to build. Now, with > deregulation not yet complete, they have to take a loss on power > they resell. > > Were deregulation complete, California customers would be > gouged beyond belief, which would be even worse. > > This shows what happens when corporations have as much power > over our lives -- if not more -- than governments. They > effectively BECOME unelected governments, and their screwups > affect public health and safety. > > --Brett > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?000d01c06a4e$15def320$847e03cb>