From fork-admin@xent.com Wed Sep 25 21:33:31 2002 Return-Path: Delivered-To: yyyy@localhost.example.com Received: from localhost (jalapeno [127.0.0.1]) by jmason.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CE0C416F03 for ; Wed, 25 Sep 2002 21:33:30 +0100 (IST) Received: from jalapeno [127.0.0.1] by localhost with IMAP (fetchmail-5.9.0) for jm@localhost (single-drop); Wed, 25 Sep 2002 21:33:30 +0100 (IST) Received: from xent.com ([64.161.22.236]) by dogma.slashnull.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g8PIM9C08544 for ; Wed, 25 Sep 2002 19:22:09 +0100 Received: from lair.xent.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4263029409F; Wed, 25 Sep 2002 11:18:09 -0700 (PDT) Delivered-To: fork@example.com Received: from localhost.localdomain (pool-162-83-148-146.ny5030.east.verizon.net [162.83.148.146]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2507429409A for ; Wed, 25 Sep 2002 11:17:46 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (lgonze@localhost) by localhost.localdomain (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g8PIKQg00488 for ; Wed, 25 Sep 2002 14:20:30 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: localhost.localdomain: lgonze owned process doing -bs From: Lucas Gonze X-X-Sender: lgonze@localhost.localdomain Cc: FoRK Subject: Re: The Great Power-Shortage Myth In-Reply-To: Message-Id: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: fork-admin@xent.com Errors-To: fork-admin@xent.com X-Beenthere: fork@example.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Friends of Rohit Khare List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 14:20:26 -0400 (EDT) X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.8 required=5.0 tests=AWL,IN_REP_TO,KNOWN_MAILING_LIST,MISSING_HEADERS, QUOTED_EMAIL_TEXT,USER_AGENT_PINE,X_AUTH_WARNING version=2.50-cvs X-Spam-Level: > The only circumstances in which a business will not be ready--indeed, > eager--to do an additional volume of business is if it is physically unable > to do so because it lacks the necessary physical means of doing so, or > because the costs it incurs in doing so exceed the additional sales revenue > it will receive. That is a fully retarded view of economics, and pretty much the same kind of clueless oversimplication that led to the blackouts. There are a bazillion factors that affect game strategies, which is what the state of California messed up and the energy producers exploited. I'm not convinced that the only way to prevent future energy debacles like the blackouts is to reregulate. Ultimately we have to blame the people who crafted the game rules in a way that invited blackouts and exploitation. Given that the particular set of rules crafted by the state of California sucked, does there exist a set of rules that doesn't suck? If there does exist a better set of rules, then reregulation isn't necessarily the answer. You can't blame businesses for being profit maximizers. Yes, the people involved were heartless and corrupt. But mainly they just did their jobs. The guilty parties are either the mathematicians and economists who wrote the rules or, if the mathematicians and economists said there were no good rules, pro-deregulation politicians who went ahead anyway. - Lucas