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To: TimF who wrote (62225)	1/26/2001 6:02:22 PM
From: pater tenebrarum	Respond to of 436258

Tim, this is of course also true. keep in mind though that at the time the 'deregulation' (why anyone would still call it that is beyond me) was put in place, the utilities were eager to have it implemented in exactly the manner it WAS implemented, as they figured that if competition were restricted to generation, wholesale prices could only go down, and their fixed selling prices would thus ensure ever increasing margins. so they do bear some responsibility too, for not thinking this thing through. on a more general note, i think it can not be disputed that hard economic times will breed economic interventionism, which is both provable by empirical historical evidence, as well as being in accordance with intuition and common sense. however, it will be the wrong thing to do. as the Austrian economists have tried in vain to inculcate into modern economic thinking, the best method to shorten the duration of a bust is to engage in a hands-off policy. just look at Japan: the quintessential interventionist state, spending trillions to revive the economy, and producing a decade of misery.