Boy, looks like I missed some fun today - both in the market as well as on the thread debating energy. Oh well, I was volunteering at my daughter's school running an event for track and field day and had a great time.
But Joe, I disagree with you completely - the federal government should not meddle in the California energy situation. The politicans and citizens out there got themselves into this situation, why should they look for Uncle Sam and the rest of the country to bail them out.
Harsh medicine - yes indeed. But I believe just medicine. Its time people take personal responsibility in this country for their actions, and when things go around, don't look for the easy way out. So, price caps - no way. My solution is let the free market reign. The price will eventually rise to a point in California where demand will level off as people make choices. Maybe they will go without that A/C all day, or turn the thermometer up a few notches. On top of that, I would suggest the politicians there pass regulations that would enable the power companies to quickly move forward with building new capacity. And yes, that means in places where some folks may not want it. But again, that goes back to personal responsibility. If you want to benefit from using the power - don't just rely on importing it from out of state power companies. You need to build generating capacity in state yourself (and by you, I refer to the state of CA, not any one person). Sure, it will take a while to get the new capacity online - but if the state can streamline their myriad of regulations and restrictions, the better chance of this occurring sooner than later.
Sure, my solution isn't as easy as saying putting price caps on all those big, bad enegry suppliers. After all, they are evil - and the people are good. Those big bad power companies don't deserve to make any profit importing power to CA - especially when they are generating it elsewhere. But you don't live in a perfect world (although some Californians I gather seem to think they are entitled to living in one), and its gonna take some pain to get out of the hole. But its a hole California dug for themselves. So what is wrong with them finding a way out themselves? |
