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Gold/Mining/Energy : CPN: Calpine Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (187)	12/13/2001 1:55:41 AM
From: Clement	Respond to of 555

Raymond: I take it you're a democrat <g>. I guess you should define how the free markets would "rip off" the energy users of California. One could argue that electricity is far too important to be in the hands of the government. If the market was designed to allow for the proper incentives, the spark spread would continue to drop because of competition. Inefficient and polluting plants would be forced to close because they could not compete (versus bandaid solutions that the taxpayers pay for in the form of mandated rate hikes to give utilites a legislated rate of return and no incentive to invest more in newer plants and reduce costs). If prices rose, there is a solution: use less of it. In a well designed open market, it isn't possible just to game the system. You assume that all market participants have the same and congruent agenda and act together. Nothing further could be the case. "Free trade is a disease and a lie"? Try bureaucratization and legislated inefficiency. The only reason that gamers were allowed to game the market is simply because it was defined that way by the powers that be. Just like OPEC. It could be argued that the energy market is too important to allow for a cartel but should we attack and destroy all of OPEC? They are destroying themselves. At above market prices they have inadvertently sped the development of alternative fuels including fuel cells. The free markets work. Let's be honest with ourselves here, no one is forcing anyone to buy the levels of energy that they do. If it means turning down the a/c a bit using the SUV a little less, so be it. That's the way markets work. Clement