Rising Grocery Prices

[UP 829]

See that is the whole issuse that we as a country are facing now is the COLLASPE of our infastructure. We have outsourced and overregulated everything to the point were it takes years to get anything done yet once something does make its way thru all the hoops at the Goverment level a Citizens Group can tie it up in the courts til the corpartion decides to say the hell with it.  Yet if someone comes out with a product that may actually help fuel economy or save energy that products rights are bought by the Major oil companies so it does not hit the market and ruin them.  Anyone remeber the guy who had that 78 olds that got 100 MPG he was bought out for 100 mil in the 70's by Standard Oil to keep it off the market.  CEO's and Wall Street only worry about the next quarters profits they do not care about the future of this country.  Remember who benefited the most from the Bush tax cuts the UPPER 1% and who got stuck holding the bag the middle class.  Who is the only OIL MAN that has surronded himself with OIL People in his Cabinet George W Bush his Sec of State Condeleeza Rice has a Tanker NAMED FOR HER.  Yes oil is a fininite resource however under this administration this country has seen its energy costs triple in 6 years and that is unheard of even under Carter things were not this bad energy wise. 

I'm not sure I believe the 100 MPG carb story, but CEO's and Wall Street are supposed to look out for the stockholders, that's their job. It's also their job to beat out the competition until there's no competition left by any means their corporate lawyers say they can get away with. It's the government and regulators job to look out for the people and the good of the country and level the playing field from time to time. Oil and gas prices have tripled, but I'm not convinced it's purely a coincidence that the present Administration has managed to sour relations with virtually every major oil supplier beyond the Middle East. And regarding the boutique fuels we keep hearing about, a number of governors, including Wisconsin(R), asked that they be suspended last summer. Those requests were turned down by DOE and EPA.

Another part of the problem is the practice if stripping assets from corporations once they become valuable. Remember when many corporations had over-funded pension plans that were used to finance corporate greenmail or for mergers. Many of those are now severly under-funded. Guess who's going to get 10 cents on the dollar and who gets stuck with the bill.

[Suburban Station]

The galling thing in Northern Illinois is we paid for all those nuclear plants, overpaid for the energy from them for years, then pre-paid decommisioning costs for years, only to have them sold when we really need them. The current mess is a corporate shell game where a paper subsidiary 'buys' power from it's paper parent in a rigged revesre auction. The mess can't be undone because the State Senate President has been bought and paid for by the power company and has been able to block any attempt to fix it.

But IMO the problem with utility degreg is in many cases real competition is impossible. If my power quality is poor or I have a lot of outages, it doesn't matter who I buy from since it all comes over the same infrastructure. Avoiding duplicate or expensive to build infrastructure is the reason for creating public utilities in the first place. Building a new refinery is not a moon mission. Given resources and capital it could be done in far less than a year start to finish, if someone really wanted to get it done. But what incentive exists for doing that when short supply is rewarded with higher margins and profits?

we have the same issue in PA, sort of. lots of nuclear power (although our power is cheaper than nearby maryland)but power is sold on an open market and the local power company here lost a high stakes mgmt war to chicago (PECO is now exelon). I don't hvae too many complaints about them. I certainly wish my municipally owned gas utility were owned by exelon. At any rate, power is a problematic industry. It was privatized because of the inordinate amount of bloat and aging infrastructure (AFAIK). Perhaps it woudl have been better if edison had one out with his DC. I believe it woudl have used smaller generators located closer to the consumer. i saw a special on the history channel indicating that DC may make a comeback (maybe someone with better knowledge can comment).  

As for building a power plant. Let me give you this example. the story of my favorite apt building in philly. the previous building was purchased, demolished, and a new ten story building put in its place with within a year.

http://phillyskyline.com/bldgs/divinelorraine/rbm/index1.htm

 

that woudl take years now. settlement, zoning, permits, contracts, and finally construction (emphasis n the middle two).