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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scumbria who wrote (135310)	4/1/2001 3:52:20 PM
From: JohnD	Respond to of 1575800

Scumbria, I asked because I was very long a utility stock a long time ago that paid a dividend which beat the rate of inflation at that time - something like 18 or 20 %. :) If I remember correctly, the utility bought the largest bank in the state, and the bank caused the whole thing to go belly-up. It may have come back as Pinnecal or something like that. I sold when they went into "banking," so I don't recall what happened. Re. the California problem; When a group of voters is naive enough to think that a price cap can work successfully, in any situation where there are totally uncontrollable variables, is an disaster waiting to happen~ There should have been no real surprise there. Analysis, spin, etc is all too late after the illogical assumption had been made. The only real question was not if, it was only when ~ All IMHO, JohnD

To: Scumbria who wrote (135310)	4/1/2001 7:49:07 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575800

Q: Why did the shortage begin so suddenly last summer? A: This past year, drought conditions in the Pacific Northwest decreased the amount of energy hydroelectric generators could produce. Then, last summer, hot weather in the Southwest dramatically increased demand for electricity, eliminating any available surplus. aps.com; Scumbria, while most of what they say seems pretty correct, the reference to the NW is off...the drought is a recent event and did not precipitate CA's problems last summer. Power was sent to CA last summer as per the agreement that exists between the two regions. In fact last fall, the NW, unfortunately and to some extent foolishly, spilled water from the reservoirs in order to have sufficient room to hold winter rain and snow runoff. We could use that water now. In the meantime, the NW drought is a recent event and may well end up crippling CA this summer. Its going to be very difficult for the NW to comply with the agreement during the summer when CA's needs are greatest, particularly if a plant should go down unexpectently. And if we are forced to comply, then the NW may experience rolling blackouts as well. ted