American Utility Companies - Everything that is wrong with Corporatism

[stevenleser]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_060719_american_utility_com.htm

American Utility Companies - Everything that is wrong with Corporatism
July 19, 2006 at 09:22:41

by Steven Leser

The American psyche is an interesting one. In certain instances of perceived wrongs, such as the British taxing goods without giving us representation in Parliament, we will institute complete rebellion. In other instances, such as incompetently conducted elections and utility companies that rape us blind, give us inadequate service or out and out kill people, we smile and say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Who can forget the deplorable actions of Pacific Gas & Electric in Hinkley, California dramatized in 'Erin Brockovich'? The firm contaminated the city's drinking water with hexavalent chromium causing scores of instances of cancers, birth defects and organ failures. The firm acknowledged its actions as unconscionably egregious and settled lawsuits out of court for no less than $333 million, the largest ever settlement up until that time. Not long afterwards, several utility companies in California conspired together to raise electric prices in the state to the point that they bankrupted fellow utility Pacific Gas & Electric, and nearly bankrupted the state, effectively leading to the bringing down of the Grey Davis administration through the infamous recall.

Now, as a heat wave grips the nation, utility companies, which have been raking in the profits as of late, have shown their infrastructures inadequate to prevent widespread blackouts and brownouts. NPR reported that 300,000 people had been without power on Monday in Wisconsin and Michigan. The northwest portion of Queens, NY including LaGuardia airport and portions of the NYC subway system has been dealing with rolling blackouts and brownouts since Monday afternoon. Consolidated Edison (Con Ed) who services the NYC area titled its 2005 Annual Report "Strength". It boasted of being the "Only utility in the S&P 500 with 25 or more consecutive years of dividend growth." Indeed, Con Ed's net income grew from 537 million dollars in 2004 to 719 million in 2005.

How is it that the utility companies cannot handle a short period of spiked energy usage due to a heat wave? This is the United States, not a third world country in Sub-Saharan Africa. How can Con Ed report massive profit growth in its annual reports for the last 25 years and not ensure its cable plant and infrastructure is adequate to handle a two-day long heat wave? Is Con Ed going to compensate the city, the businesses and customers for lost revenue and lost refrigerated foods due to their incompetence? I have a few messages for America Utility Companies including Con Ed, courtesy of 'The Bard':

In the world's wide mouth live scandaliz'd and foully spoken of.

sole name blisters our tongues.

You shall stifle in your own report, and smell of calumny.

Hence, horrible villain, or I'll spurn thine eyes like balls before me; I'll unhair thy head, Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire, and stew'd'in brine, smarting in lingering pickle.

What trick, what device, what starting-hole canst thou now find out, to hide thee from this open and apparent shame?

Thou art so leaky that we must leave thee to thy sinking.

appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.

Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world.

Were I like thee I'd throw away myself.

Thou whoreson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap than to wait at my heels.

How now, wool-sack, what mutter you?

Methink'st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee.

Come, come, you talk greasily; your lips grow foul.

Thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson obscene greasy tallow-catch!

Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!

[Igel]

1. Make the assumption that corporations are really only

groups of people, and the problem's fairly evident.

No desire for long term planning when there's short term gain, no desire to do something that's hard and painful unless there's a good immediate payout. The reason that Americans owe so much debt, that people buy things they don't need on credit and pay them off over time. The reason people buy more expensive pre-prepared food that's less healthy for them. The reason kids in school tend to do the minimum needed for graduation, or cheat.

People have the wrong priorities.

[The Deacon]

2. It All Started

With deregulation and the fiction that "The Market" would bring efficiency and lower prices through competition. That we forgot that we regulated companies (starting with Teddy Roosevelt) after they had demonstrated that their only real desire was to enrich their owners. Deregulation has been a colossal failure in every sector of the economy it has been tried (airlines, trucking, telecommunications, utilities, etc) resulting in fewer choices or actual danger to the populace (SBC has reconstituted AT&T without that pesky government oversight, the only U.S. airlines not owned by foreign companies are out of business - or declare bankruptcy every three and a half weeks to enable them to steal more from their employee pension plans, truck drivers wacked on uppers are killing hundreds on interstates because they have to drive 48 hours straight to have any hope of making above minimum wage, power companies are allowed to pay their execs multi-million dollar bonuses out of money earmarked for infrastructure improvement.) It is time for the people of the U.S. to admit that this grand experiment in deregulation has resulted in a lower standard of living for the 80% of our population which was not fortunate enough to be in on the theft and overthrow those whose knowledge of market forces begins and ends with Adam Smith.
Call me a Radical - but I believe Capitalism works best when not in thrall to a 18th Century Scottish fruitcake.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. And what happened to Bush's promise to re-build the grid in 2001?

"We're dancing toward an interstate electric grid to match our interstate highways and interstate phone systems.

"....more than 40 of the 100-plus recommendations in my administration's energy plan are intended to protect the environment, help hard hit communities, and revitalize our conservation efforts all across the country."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010529-6.html

[michaelwb]

4. Priorities

And what happened to Bush's promise to re-build the grid in 2001?

Hey he's busy looking for Osama.

Putting Nasa on track to go to Mars.

Fighting the international sex trade (as soon at Neil is done with them underage Thai girls.)

Firing the leaky in the Plame case.

He's a busy man...

;-)