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To: JHP who wrote (99588)	5/4/2001 3:03:29 PM
From: portage	Respond to of 436258

Power gougers : jail 'em. eom

To: JHP who wrote (99588)	5/16/2001 2:46:06 PM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

jhp, what the "free market" touters fail to understand is that charging the customer what they will bear is not always the best policy. eg, you go to the emergency room with a life threatening problem. who would support the dr negotiating with the near death patient to find out how much they will "bear" to have their life saved? perhaps all their wealth + 10 years of servitude? my guess is that a medical attorney would sue the pants off a doctor that did this type of thing - even though the "free market" is always "best" and "maximizing profits" is always righteous. ;-) the bottom line is that control over power is in the national interest. sometimes, reducing supply is the best way to maximize profits. the problem is that maximizing profits now means screwing the national interest. let's go to extremes. let's say that the power companies could maximize profits as a group by cutting power output 50%. they would destroy the nation in their effort to maximize profits. maximizing profits is a righteous thing to do, right? some would call that a good thing and appropriate. i'm all for maximizing profits, however, putting the potential to destroy a nation in the hands of a handful of folks is not my idea of righteous. i disagree with those folks. somebody f* up big here and it isn't a trivial matter as some suggest.