231–240 of 296 posts
Another electricity market of similar scale that is also an energy-only market is the Australian NEM. It hasn't had an event similar to the ERCOT disaster of last winter yet, but there have been discussions about adding a capacity market mechanism.
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You have over-simplified to the point of being incorrect. The Alamo is one of many battles during the Texas revolution which primarily occurred due to the move of Mexico to a centralized power instead of a federalized one. Texas had already endured a constitutional change, increased taxes, immigration being made illegal and changes in the legality of slavery. While Santa Anna blamed "illegal immigrants" heavily, he a…
And yet this revolution was still started by American settlers and other Americans that the settlers convinced to cross into Mexico. I agree that Santa Ana was authoritarian, but the Alamo was not a symbol of freedom from authoritarianism. It was a rebellion which was only a relevant point because American settlers chose to live in Mexico and failed to uphold the contract with their new government: to limit slavery t…
I think you are missing that Texas had always been distinct - not just part of Mexico/Spain - and that those immigrants didn't suddenly pop there right before to pick up Texas but had been living there since it was Spanish territory.
Even France wanted to buy Texas as a distinct entity at one point.
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Deregulation isn't about improving consumer outcomes, it's about improving profits. Expecting it to result in lower cost per kWh is a losing game.
What seems most remarkable to me is that we've got a fair amount of anti-free-market vitriol in the replies around here but nobody feels a need to provide any argument or evidence. The only person waving evidence around in this thread demonstrates that Texas has substantially lower electricity prices than the US average. And the article argues that there are edge cases where the market design could be improved. But I…
Only if one ignores consequences (externalities).
System failures leading to fatalities, casualties, losses incurred by other businesses, parents staying home with kids because schools closed, customers getting stiffed with emergency pricing, retail rush on generators and propane, etc.
Your basic Freedom Markets™ scenario of using disaster (capitalism) to bulk transfer wealth from customers and tax payers to gate keeping elites.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
> ...just isn't that big a deal for arguing about regulation vs deregulation on either side of the fence.
What about accountability? Consequences?
Where in your thesis are victims able to be made whole?
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Markets have rules. That's what makes them markets. No rules, no markets. Then it's just an extortion racket, no matter how much lipstick you put on that pig.
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What seems most remarkable to me is that we've got a fair amount of anti-free-market vitriol in the replies around here but nobody feels a need to provide any argument or evidence. The only person waving evidence around in this thread demonstrates that Texas has substantially lower electricity prices than the US average. And the article argues that there are edge cases where the market design could be improved. But I…
Depends on your definition of "free market". If you mean libre non-profit exchange between consenting peers, i'm all for free market. If you mean a profit-based economy where the people who "own" everything dictate life conditions for the rest of us, i'm pretty much against it. > Is it to much to ask that the opinions are supported by evidence? Economy is not a field i'm familiar with so i can't unfortunately provide…
"Free markets" rhetoric is a catchy slogan for might makes right. No contracts, no rule of law, no fair and impartial arbitrators, no opportunity for recourse (tort). So not a market.
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As I understand it, (ie, poorly), California pays for both power and capacity. Capacity payments are paid whether the plant is used or not, and capacity has fairly strict uptime requirements or it doesn't pay for that capacity.
I havent studied this in depth, but my intuition tells me that having capacity payments such that the grid as a whole has sufficient overhead for extreme events nullifies any "efficiency" arguments for having these market mechanisms in the first place. Call me crazy, I think that Texas is doing exactly what it set out to do with deregulation. Run the grid more efficiently via market mechanisms. The method that is use…
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You're just describing class struggle and industry, not capitalism specifically. Capitalism was once revolutionary against feudalism, as the bourgeoisie replaced the nobility as the ruling class. But that hasn't been the case for centuries.
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I must ask. Why, according to you, was he a "literal man child"?
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Eastern Ontario also gets wind and ice. Every single year. And yet it has electricity.
Exactly. Eastern Ontario gets wind and ice and cold EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Every one. If you don't winterize, you don't work. It is a cost. In Texas, basically up until last year with that blackout, there was no downside to not winterizing. Why? Most of our pipes aren't even deep enough to handle a hard freeze - because we don't usually get hard freezes.