The Power Is With The Powerful

Several years ago in Ohio, the legislature passed and the governor signed a law deregulating the electric power industry in Ohio. The plan called for a phased in implementation, with more or less full deregulation taking place at the end of 2008. The first part of the plan was to give consumers a choice between electricity suppliers through their local power company. The idea was that competition would keep prices down and supplies plentiful. Dare I say, "Yeah...right!" The vaunted free market system, so touted by the wealthy, hasn't produced the promised competition, and lo and behold, the end of 2008 is just a little more than a year away. At first, several companies vied for customers, but any savings for consumers was minuscule, and eventually many of the companies dropped out of the program.

Now Ohioans are being told to brace for tremendous price increases, not withstanding the fact that the Ohio power industry has made billions since the law was passed (I keep telling you, they NEVER get enough!!! Not now!!! Not ever!!!) The governor (not the same one who signed the law) is scrambling to get a plan through the legislature, before the clock ticks down, giving the state some regulatory control on prices. Of course, this has prompted the power industry and their free market supporters to wring their hands and declare that the end of the world is near. (I'd LOVE to send all these wealthy @$%&*#$@& to fight in the wars and let them defend the system they love so much! Then we'd see just how much they love it!)

Let me tell you folks, this is only one example of the system devised by the rich for the rich. Trust me, it was NOT devised to help average people. All of this "energy" system is in the hands of the wealthiest Americans, from oil, gasoline, electricity, home heating oil, natural gas. Most of these items were added to these futures markets to benefit the rich, not consumers. Don't let them give you that malarkey how this was all done for the country's benefit. It was done to help the rich keep their already wealthy hands in your pockets; and that part has really worked for them, too, as the price for virtually every energy source has seen skyrocketing increases just since 2000; and now, with the push to try to expand ways to produce energy, like with ethanol, food prices have been soaring, as farmers are taking the extra money to grow corn, and diminishing the production of other crops. Wealthy futures traders have pumped up the price of corn and wheat, which has had a domino effect on the price of dairy and meat products.

I'm not a Communist, but I'm not a true believer in Capitalism either. I believe in what works. All this nonsense about precedents, and we can't let government compete with private enterprise is a bunch of bunk! At times government at some level has to provide the necessary competition to give these private companies a run for their money (Literally!) What do we want as Americans? A system that says, "Hey, I'm a winner and I've got the drop on you, and I'm going to use it to the max, you loser!" Is this what we fight wars for? We heard from the free marketers how if only oil companies made more money, they would build more refineries and more gasoline would be produced. Uh huh!!! Instead, the money has gone to higher dividends to put more money into the pockets of wealthy investors and to increase the value of company stock. Oh yes, they have expanded existing plant capacities, something they quickly tout, but there have been no new refineries built since the 1970s!!! Meanwhile, this current Administration, never having met a big business they didn't like, has sat by and let prices of oil and gasoline explode! (Pun intended!) The Clinton Administration is culpable in all of this, too, as they let some big mergers go through; thus limiting competition even more in such a vital industry.

I'm for whatever it takes to put some competition back into the system, and that includes government building refineries or digging wells. If you read my "Great Depression" series, you may recall that Hoover opposed government development of electric power in the Tennessee Valley, but it happened anyway, and little red flags didn't suddenly appear all over America. The Republic is safe. If you missed my previous comments on this issue:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2006/12/oil-and-gas-prices.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/07/futures-belong-to.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/05/government-intervention-is-necessary.html