My folks are PG&E customers and the very idea of the state taking over bothers them enormously.
The reasons are twofold:
1. Historically this state never does anything well and what it tries is sloppy and ineffective and never at a reduced cost.
2. Assuming they "nationalize" the utility, once the state owns it there's no longer anyone to take your complaint. Right now, in theory, if the utility does you wrong you can call the Public Utilities Commission and file a complaint but when they are state owned, the state doesn't care because you have no other options and you're stuck with them.
In the years before the horrible fires, the utilities were required to report fires to the PUC that involved their equipment and they did. So what did the PUC do with the complaints? Not a thing.
Once the government gets involved everything they touch in CA turns to shit.
Posts: 4333 | Location: "You can't just go to Walmart with a gift card and get a new brother." Janice Serrano | Registered: May 03, 2005
Given how well the state is managing our roads, our education system, our water resources, crime, healthcare, wildland fires, the homeless problem, Dept of Motor Vehicles, ect, I have to ask, what could go wrong, what could possibly go wrong ?
Originally posted by nhtagmember: I thought CA was bankrupt?
how can it take over a Circle-K ?
California has been running a budget surplus since 2011. Currently the surplus is in excess of $10 billion. They have moneyIf housing prices collapse or the extreamly wealthy flee the state it could get ugly.
Fred is right. I have family out there Retired LE. 6 figure retirement. It’s family so I’m happy for them. Can’t for the life of me wrap my mind around that kind of retirement for every cop, firefighter, public servant out there. The numbers are massive.
Posts: 7540 | Location: Florida | Registered: June 18, 2005
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
Posts: 24881 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009
Moonbeam is gone, so it's not his problem. That's how the whole pension funding problem happened. Current politicians bought labor support from the public employee unions by promising them pensions without full funding them. They knew they'd be out of the picture when the bill came due.
But Moonbeam had a current deficit to deal with, and he did, the old fashioned way, by raising taxes.
quote:
Originally posted by Fredward: The "surplus" doesn't take public employee retirements into consideration. Magic math, you see.
Originally posted by corsair: It'll either resemble every other state controlled monopoly, like we see in 3rd world counties.
Or, it'll look like Nebraska Public Power District.
I have little faith that the CA.gov can replicate what NE has.
My prediction is in a few years California's electric grid looks like South Africa's electric grid post-apartheid. It won't take 26 years like South Africa either because California's electric grid is not in great shape to begin with. Two examples:
already has rolling blackouts in the summer
their grid is already starting massive wildfires
South Africa has been loading shedding 40% (not a typo) of their electric grid which means as the blackouts roll people can expect 48 hours of power in a 96 hour window. California certainly won't remain the fifth largest economy in the world with that power reliability.
If the above wasn't scary enough, PG&E has a large natural gas transmission and distribution system that has many existing challenges (e.g. pressure reductions from pipeline integrity issues). This is with oil & gas professionals operating and maintaining it so it's frightening to think how DMVesque people will operate and maintain it.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
Posts: 23965 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005
