BLACKOUT


sorabji.com: Are there any news?: BLACKOUT
THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016).

By N.b. on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 09:54 am:

    in spite of my antipathy for following directions and participating in organized activities, and my guess that this is shared widely amongst sorabjiites, this might be fun.

    Thurs. June 21, 7-10 p.m. Turn everything off (except the refrigerator)

    http://www.legitgov.com/protests_rollblackout.html


By patrick on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 11:45 am:

    this is almost as dumb as the "gas-out" deal when gas prices were high last year.


By Nate on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 12:12 pm:

    not exactly, though. electricity is not stored. it is generated and must be used.


By dave. on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 07:41 pm:

    how about using as much as you want but don't pay until the prices come down to where they were pre-"crisis". get 20 or 30 million residents to stop paying for a few months and see how all the power corporation's shareholders feel about the lost revenue.

    actually, i guess it's the local utilities that should be doing this. we'll see how many days the federal gov't will let california and other states sit in the dark before they step in and cap those prices. i would guess not too long.

    capitalism works on the theory that whatever people will pay for something is how much that thing is worth.

    what frustrates me about all of this is that they're not doing anything to us that we aren't letting them do. i hope california sues like a motherfucker for all this.


By Nate on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 07:50 pm:

    we haven't built power plants (other than a couple nuclear generators) in the past 30 years. the population of california has grown massively in the past 30 years (as has OR and WA) we grew 22% in the past 10 years. that's huge.

    this seems to indicate that a short supply situation could be occuring.

    the way the market is set up, this shortage is not passed to the consumer. this causes the supply become more damaged and the crisis to escalate.

    this is not a free market.

    i think i've been mostly swayed to your side, though, dave.

    i don't think energy should be a free market commodity.



By dave. on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 09:21 pm:

    sure, a shortage is on the horizon but why does that make the costs go up? you produce until the supply runs out, everything goes black and when the reserves have been replenished, the power comes back on. after a few events like that, people start monitoring their usage. it costs the generators no more to distribute the electricity today than it did a year ago.

    i'm not anti-profit. 5, 10, 20 percent is fine. whatever will cover costs + inflation, maintains an account that covers contingencies and another account that funds development. i'm cool with that.

    it scares me, nate, when you agree with me on things fiscal.


By Nate on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 10:31 pm:

    well, i agree with your conclusion if not your reasoning.

    charging more as supply is reduced (== demand is higher) will help curb the demand. if you don't have price as a demand reducer, there needs to be some artificial incentive for people to conserve.

    as it is, plenty of folks are still running their air conditioners rather than have an 80 degree house.

    blackouts are bad. bad for the economy, bad for hospitals, bad for the environment.




By dave. on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 11:19 pm:

    usage in california has gone up again because there have been no blackouts. blackouts and peer pressure will reduce consumption better than high prices simply because were addicted to power.

    except for crimson, people are still smoking even though the price of smokes has gone way up.

    if you have a situation where the demand for smokes is, say, 100,000,000 a month but the manufacturers can only provide 75,000,000 a month, people will adjust their consumption to a level where they're not having to go the last week of the month without. at least until more tobacco can be grown. it might take a couple of months for them to figure it out but they will figure it out.


By Nate on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 11:22 pm:

    blackouts are still bad.

    usage in california has gone down, as have the prices.


By dave. on Wednesday, June 13, 2001 - 11:33 pm:

    being ruled by a power monopoly is also bad. the generators know it's political suicide for them to continue gouging. they had an amazing couple of quarters. they created an opportunity, exploited it until everyone caught on, and now they'll start backing off. they'll say it's because of conservation and whatnot but it really boils down to the board of directors acquiescing to political pressure and lowering the costs arbitrarily.


By patrick on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 12:06 pm:

    i bought fans and havent had to run my a/c yet.

    what angers me is the irreverence by Bush & Co.

    as they say, California sneezes, the rest of the country sniffles. Being the largest economy in the US...what happens to us leaks to you.

    I'm glad Bush & Co. are giving us some money back from taxes....so I can pay for the higher gas and energy prices. That was a beautiful trick wasnt it. Basically we are laundering money for Bush & Co.


By Nate on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:10 pm:

    texas is making bank on our energy 'crisis'.


By patrick on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:15 pm:

    exactly...and with these tax rebates....we are simply turning it right back over to those assholes.


By Nate on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:24 pm:

    uhm.

    explain again why the tax rebates are bad?

    i mean, aside from that's what the liberal rags tell you.


By Spunkrat on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:43 pm:

    Maybe they are afraid they will prove old willy right.
    He did not want to do the tax rebate thing because he was afraid that the tax payers would not spend it wisely


By Nate on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:48 pm:

    americans don't spend money wisely.


By patrick on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:52 pm:

    no liberal rag is telling me anything.

    i didnt say they were bad. the tax rebates are good. it will allow me to pay the higher energy costs i may incure this summer.

    bush gives us money back


    we pay more energy costs


    most of california's energy dollars go to Texas


    lots of Texas energy companies support Bush.


    i mean...is this not clear to you? we are laundering money for Bush.


By patrick on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:53 pm:

    don't be an asshole and assume all of my opinions are formed from the media nate.


By Spunkrat on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 02:01 pm:

    I did not say I would spend it wisely.
    I went broke catching up the gas bill last month, next month it will be the electricity, as long as I can keep it on....
    Really, they have quadrupled.

    I am taking the family on vacation this fall with the money. Otherwise I could not do it


By Nate on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 02:08 pm:

    i just do it to get your goat, patty.


By J on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 04:02 pm:

    I said this before Bush came in office, California had already fucked it's self,not Bush.


By patrick on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 04:17 pm:

    yeah well california did fuck it up years ago...under a republican governor (for what thats worth)....but the Bush administration needs to realize what happens to california can happen elsewhere...if he isnt careful. we are the largest state economy in this nation. ignoring california will eventually hurt you.


By J on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 04:31 pm:

    California's problems are already hurting me,and everyone,the problem seems to me about how the California utilities went about operating after deregulation.Now they want to blame everyone but where the blame lays.


By Nate on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 04:53 pm:

    "...under a republican governor" ... introduced by a democrat and voted in unanimously by a well mixed state congress...


By patrick on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 05:42 pm:

    signed by a republican governor.

    the democrat who recently lost his mayorial bid here was head of the assembly at the time...Antonio Villarigosia. I know it was a mixed motion.

    But Bush and Cheney are acting like its not their problem, when it is... Even some moderate republicans are saying price caps are worth considering, because the energy corporations are out of control.

    The California utilities ceased to BE california utilities after deregualtion...and came under control of out of state corporations. So it's not necessarily the utilities fault, they were following the guidelines established by the messed up deregulation.

    Blame rest soley on the politicians for getting us into the mess, and failing to end it.


By Nate on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 05:49 pm:

    blame rests soley on us for electing these politicians.

    and bush and cheney are morons.


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