On Thu, Feb 14, 2002 at 06:31:08PM +0000, Steven Johnson wrote:
>
> OK, I am bored so let me open up a discussion point. Last year, we
> discussed the California energy shortage. There were quite a few people
> who made some, what now appears to be outlandish claims, of undercapacity.
>
> Now, when California literally cannot give energy away fast enough and the
> collapse of Enron have your original opinions changed? If so, why? If not,
> why not?
>
> I would like to keep this introspective. Review what you said last year
> and comment on that.
>
You expect me to go look up what I said then?! ;-}
I don't know if "cannot give energy away fast enough" is accurate. When
this was really a problem for California was in the summer, as I recall.
Moreover, at the time, there were plants being built which may now be
online. California's bigger problem is that they locked themselves into
expensive long-term contracts, and any electricity they sell back will
have to be at a loss.
I don't know how much "undercapacity" California had. The bigger issue
was that, while California had doubled in population, no new plants had
been built in ten years. This because of the enviro-nazis. At the same
time, California had embarked on a disasterous policy they called
"deregulation", which mostly consisted of price controls for consumers.
Unfortunately, you can't execute price controls on one side of the
pipeline and not the other. Not indefinitely. At some point, something
will give, as it did in California.
Gray Davis has probably been the worst governor in California's recent
history. A while back, California enacted legislation to roll back
bilingual education. Now teaching was to be done in English only.
Minorities favored this, and test scores went up. Now, despite the fact
that this policy was enacted as law, and the fact that people wanted
it, Gray Davis is attempting to subvert it by bringing back bilingual
education. This guy is a walking disaster. I don't follow him closely,
but I suspect everything he touches turns to excrement.
(Sorry I couldn't be introspective. ;-)
Paul
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