tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post2252478202887114075..comments2019-12-31T11:45:30.066-06:00Comments on Carbondale Bytelife: Electricity, markets and monopoliesParentheticushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397250058745076490noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post-14370328868168798902007-05-16T11:13:00.000-05:002007-05-16T11:13:00.000-05:00Anonymous: Obviously gas prices are not the same a...Anonymous: Obviously gas prices are not the same at every station. If you're facetiously asking something else, come out and ask it. I'm dense.<BR/><BR/>By the way, I've posted extended commentary to Bob Paul's extended commentary on his blog <A HREF="http://seriouscybernetics.blogspot.com/2007/03/ameren-monopoly.html" REL="nofollow">post</A>.Calionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11873204494424704333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post-4839681727119680442007-05-16T11:08:00.000-05:002007-05-16T11:08:00.000-05:00Englishman: Unemployment is caused by government p...Englishman: Unemployment is caused by government polcies like the minimum wage. <BR/><BR/>I don't really know what "underpaid" means. Aren't we all underpaid, in the sense that we could really use more money?<BR/><BR/>As for hunger...show me some truly hungry people in America. Even the lowest-paying job (ignoring the minimum wage) pays enough to keep a person fed. And we're so damned rich that charity will give good, healthy food to anyone that can't (or won't) buy it for themselves.<BR/><BR/>The market <I>is</I> the rosy save-all I make it out to be, in the long run. The free market system enriches all while hurting none but powermongers, leeches and thieves.Calionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11873204494424704333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post-30148494048438059492007-03-28T20:01:00.000-05:002007-03-28T20:01:00.000-05:00Jim,Why are gasoline prices always the same at eve...Jim,<BR/><BR/>Why are gasoline prices always the same at every station?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post-52188724190443468082007-03-24T22:47:00.000-05:002007-03-24T22:47:00.000-05:00I offer my extended commentary on this post here: ...I offer my extended commentary on this post here: http://seriouscybernetics.blogspot.com/2007/03/ameren-monopoly.htmlBobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13946651720311693257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post-40240150827558418672007-03-24T07:36:00.000-05:002007-03-24T07:36:00.000-05:00"The free market works, regardless of the industry..."The free market works, regardless of the industry."<BR/><BR/>Tell that to the scores of people who are unemployed, hungry, underpaid, and so on.<BR/><BR/>The free market works for some people, some of the time. But it isn't this rosy save-all that you're making it out to be.<BR/><BR/>(Deregulation in California basically meant opening up to competition.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post-86367276374114378612007-03-22T02:36:00.000-05:002007-03-22T02:36:00.000-05:00I'm not sure I understand your first point. No, po...I'm not sure I understand your first point. No, power companies are <I>not</I> truly private entities; they are essentially privately owned state agencies. I'm proposing changing exactly that.<BR/><BR/>Also..."deregulation" does not necessarily equal "full privatization," which is what I'm recommending. Poorly and incompletely done "deregulation" can cause more harm than good. Besides, although I'm not familiar with the details of the California situation, it takes time (years) for the benefits of a free market to take full effect, especially in such an infrastructure-intensive industry as electricity.<BR/><BR/>Regardless...look around you! The free market <I>works</I>, regardless of the industry. Serious shortages of the sort that happened in California simply don't happen in truly free-market industries, except in truly catastrophic circumstances. At worst (say a bad freeze for Florida oranges), there will be temporary price spikes, which level off by next season, at latest.Calionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11873204494424704333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882083298533747439.post-11547201215660421982007-03-21T22:12:00.000-05:002007-03-21T22:12:00.000-05:00If I'm not mistaken, power companies are not true ...If I'm not mistaken, power companies are not true private entitites and never have been. So its not like we'd be regulating an industry that was previously unregulated.<BR/><BR/>As far as allowing competition...have you forgotten the horrors of the California deregulation? (P.S. - Ameren hasn't...they sold excess power during that time and raked it in like mad.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com