Italy in the dark!!!!

[Jack_www]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the black out on the East Coast of the United States. This is just to strange. You never know, someone may be hacking into the power grid and shuting the power down.

[Ned]

Originally posted by MikeH


Dunno about Italy but most of the UK's power shortage problems now are blamed on underinvestment in infrastructure after the power companies were privatised. Hardly the left's fault.

Mike, ditto the US. The reason for lack of investment here is that the power lines are "regulated." They are treated as a public resource and prices are controlled. Thus, the private sector does not invest in new capacity.

Something similar has happened in telecom. Several years ago, the FCC ruled that telephone companies would have to share new high speed transmission lines with competitors - this even while cable and sattelite companies do not. As a result, telecom companies virtually halted construction of high speed optical transmission lines. In fact, it was this FCC ruling that set off the stock market collapse.

But where is this demand for "regulation" and "sharing" coming from? Surely not the free market right?

[Jack_www]

Originally posted by Ned


Mike, ditto the US. The reason for lack of investment here is that the power lines are "regulated." They are treated as a public resource and prices are controlled. Thus, the private sector does not invest in new capacity.

Something similar has happened in telecom. Several years ago, the FCC ruled that telephone companies would have to share new high speed transmission lines with competitors - this even while cable and sattelite companies do not. As a result, telecom companies virtually halted construction of high speed optical transmission lines. In fact, it was this FCC ruling that set off the stock market collapse.

But where is this demand for "regulation" and "sharing" coming from? Surely not the free market right?

Also you forget that scare in the mid 90's that power lines caused cancer and was latter proved false. Many people still have that stuck in their minds and dont want power lines near their houses. So since their is such a resistance to building them, they choise not to do it.

[Ned]

Did you know that just before the power crisis hit here in California we shut down a perfectly good nuclear reactor?

And, even while Owl Gore did not succeed, Gore strongly advocated shutting down hydroelectric dams (or not building new ones) in the Northwest because the dams disrupted salmon runs.

Yeah, the left cares more about fish and the environment than people. But it fits a larger anti-capitalist pattern of the left where any new investment in infrastructure of almost any type is to be opposed. There is a proposition on the ballot in California, prop 53, that requires the government to spend at least 3% on infrastructure. The reason for this is that the Democrat/Greens have cut infrastructure spending here to near zero. In the recent recall debate, all the leftist candidates opposed prop 53 and the Republican candidates favored it.

The divide between left and right on essential infrastructure here in the US is remarkable. The lack of investment is the cause of our increasing difficulties as a nation. We lack power transmission capacity, our roads are crowded beyond belief, and we are increasingly dependent on foreign oil.

At least here in California, the people know who is the cause of their higher electric bills. It is time for payback from the people.

[Az]

But where is this demand for "regulation" and "sharing" coming from? Surely not the free market right?

That's just faulty regulation. In any case, the right way would be to let a govt. corporation do the job, like we do it around here.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Azazel

But where is this demand for "regulation" and "sharing" coming from? Surely not the free market right?

That's just faulty regulation. In any case, the right way would be to let a govt. corporation do the job, like we do it around here.

Perhaps. But is wrong to blame the private sector for underinvestment in a regulated resource.

Also did you know that construction of new railroad lines in the United States virtually ended when we created the ICC and began to regulate railroad prices?

[Az]

Yes, but do you need more railroad lines?

[Ned]

Azazel, How does one determine when one has enough? I simply look at Japan to see just how much railroad contributed to that society. Of course, the railroads are privately owned and profitable. The average worker can live 90-100 miles from downtown and be wisked in high-speed comfort to his job in minutes. In the US, some who live near railway lines have this privilege. But only in cities where there are significant investment in railway lines, which primarily exist in the older cities of the East. Newer cities total rely on the car. As a result, we have congestion, polution and unbearable traffic jams.

[Az]

you don't really compare the population density in Japan and US, do you?

[The Mad Monk]

How about the population density in Southern California and Japan?

[Az]

What about it?

[Az]

Personally, I think you should've let Amtrack build it, and make it cheap by subsidies. would solve SO MUCH of the traffic conjestion, and pollution problems over there.

[Ned]

Azazel, the only solution is for the government to get out of the railroad business entirely except to extent that it approves right-of-ways and uses the power of eminent domain.

[The Mad Monk]

I don't know about the rest of you, but the high tension lines near me are really, really high. The towers...well, tower above any nearby tree, and the land around them are clearcut to boot -- ever notice you can see where the lines are even if they are too far away to actually see the lines? Those clearcut strips really stand out.

Unless things are really different in Switzerland -- and Ohio, for that matter -- something just dosen't add up.

[The Mad Monk]