Should essential services be publicly owned
January 4th, 2019 at 3:02:40 PM permalink | |
petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | I'm going to disagree on technical grounds. I assume much of the construction is actually done by private contractors. I don't want to say much about PA as my personal experience is on the west coast. But some attributes of electricity never change. Ohm's law rules, here or on the other side of the globe. The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |
January 4th, 2019 at 3:04:40 PM permalink | |
AZDuffman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 135 Posts: 18209 |
The bigger issue is that the fires have spread because of forest mismanagement on the part of CA. Green-types think that they know how to manage a forest when they have never left the city. You need controlled burns and logging to get rid of deadwood. The greens fight good forest management, thinking every tree is sacred. But the choice is smaller controlled burns or large fires years later. This has been warned about for decades. Meanwhile the governor blames global warming climate change! To put it all on PG&E is absurd. The President is a fink. |
January 4th, 2019 at 3:06:26 PM permalink | |
petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | Do you not believe that there exists bureaucracy at Boeing, GE, or Lockhead? The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |
January 4th, 2019 at 4:01:24 PM permalink | |
petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | Everybody buys power from BPA in the PNW. Once you connect to their system, you can't tell if the watts are coming from Bonneville dam or Hanford. PGE had their own nuke at Satsop, that iirc paid for itself in 2 years and they shut it down early because it had, and they didn't want to deal with atomic anymore? They also had/have some diesel plants along the river. PP&L/ Pacific corp has some smaller hydro mostly in Southern Oregon, but fights between tribes and farmers are getting some of those removed. PP&L also has some NG gens. Useless fact: In 75 when I apprenticed, I worked on the project to add the last generator at Bonneville dam. We moved the entire town of North Bonneville. Good times. Some great sturgeon fishing stories. We almost bought the gas station at 4 corners for our construction shop, 80-85. I don't know about wet grains, whether that includes Alfalfa or not? Grass is the product that I'm referencing. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2018/04/04/aquifers-being-sucked-dry-but-arizona-lawmakers-want-groundwater-deregulation/360060002/ http://ktar.com/story/866411/arizona-officials-enraged-over-farmland-purchases-by-saudi-arabia-to-grow-hay/ The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |
January 4th, 2019 at 4:23:05 PM permalink | |
petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | The government isn't even efficient at killing. But some acts of man are so horrid, what they do secretly 'for the public good' should be public knowledge. They shouldn't hide one flag draped casket from one Golden family. One of the problems I see with privatizing our military to Eric Prince is, private army's are not subject to FOIA requests. If it weren't for Bradley Manning and Assange publishing videos of accidental murders, the public would never have known. I want to know who is being killed in my name. I'm not even claiming killing millions so we can have cheap oil is immoral, I just want honesty. "War, what is it good for" The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |
January 4th, 2019 at 4:59:34 PM permalink | |
petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | Found this story after posting. Shares of PG&E drop almost 30% after market closes. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pg-e-us-bankruptcy-exclusive/exclusive-california-utility-pge-explores-bankruptcy-filing-sources-idUSKCN1OY225?il=0 The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |
January 4th, 2019 at 5:09:46 PM permalink | |
kenarman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 14 Posts: 4509 |
Yes there is a bureaucracy at the large companies. The difference is that on a regular basis when the market changes the private companies will cut overhead. Public companies are way slower cutting overhead if they ever even do it. "but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin |
January 4th, 2019 at 5:32:59 PM permalink | |
petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | There was a study done at Homer electric in Homer Ak. It's probably true country wide. They found that labor was only 8% of the expense of running the local electric utility, and if they laid off every single employee they still couldn't reduce electric rates. The expense of most utility's is the row and interest on loans, not the guys with shovels. Lay them off, all you gain is service interruptions. If they have to leave town to seek work elsewhere, good luck with the lights. The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |
January 4th, 2019 at 7:01:04 PM permalink | |
AZDuffman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 135 Posts: 18209 |
I still want it in private, not government hands. No reason for government to run yet more of our lives. The President is a fink. |
January 4th, 2019 at 7:20:03 PM permalink | |
petroglyph Member since: Aug 3, 2014 Threads: 25 Posts: 6227 | I hear you. The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW |