August 15, 2003
Regulation and deregulation
Over on Slashdot there is a discussion about whether deregulation caused the blackout. Your socialist types are all over this one, saying that if only we had let the government run things this would have never have happened. (My thoughts on their thoughts can be found here).
The problem here has nothing to do with deregulation, which has only started to occur in the past decade. Lots of states still have regulation, and deregulation is still in an experimental phase. The problem is that the power grid we are currently using is five decades old. And if the government was ever going to do something about that, it would have done so when it was under government control. I'd be willing to be that companies invest pretty heavily in upgrading the power grid in the next few years, under pressure from both consumers and Congress. At least some people seem to be aware of this.
Certain people have suggested that making power companies more like other corporations makes them less susceptible to public influence. If anything, the opposite is true, for if I don't like the company that is providing my power, you can bet I'll switch companies next month. Government bureaucracies are far, far harder to influence than publicly traded companies.
You say "socialist" with such venom, like it's a bad thing or something...
Posted by: JosiahQ at August 15, 2003 11:56 AMI like being social.
Posted by: mesh at August 15, 2003 01:17 PMI do think it's a bad thing. It's an incredibly wasteful economic system that, in many cases, perpetrates dramatic social injustice in the name of promoting justice. It's about to bankrupt Europe and California too. It also manages to take away a good 8-10% of each of my paychecks to provide "services" which will never, ever benefit me and which have nebulous benefits to other citizens. So no, I don't like it.
Posted by: ryan at August 15, 2003 02:01 PMWell, at least you admit its not a bad thing. Do you have to be so individualistic about it all? Kinda egocentric, don'tya think?
Posted by: JosiahQ at August 15, 2003 02:31 PMAny system that bankrupts Europe can't be all bad. Whoever is the enemy of the French is my friend.
Posted by: mesh at August 15, 2003 03:38 PMIndividualistic? Socialism is one of the most individualistic of all economic philosophies. It _requires_ and _assumes_ the elimination of all forms of community--the family, the church, and voluntary social organizations.
Posted by: Nick at August 18, 2003 03:31 PMIt does not follow from the elimination of all forms of community that socialism is individualistic. The church and the family are designed as covenantal structures; as such, they provide the only valid meausure of worth for the individual. There is more than one way to eliminate these particular forms of community. Either elevate the individual beyond the confines of these communities, or suppress the individual to the extent that these communities are robbed of all substance.
Posted by: Kevin at August 19, 2003 12:30 AM