We all ought to be pissed about this...

[Comshaw]

Texas wanted to be Fed free so they set up their power grid so the feds wouldn't have any say in how it was run.

A horrendous storm arrives and screws the power grid, not because it was unexpected, but because the companies who owned the power generation didn't want to do what was necessary to protect the system.

Power companies see an opportunity and raise power prices sky high (gouging at its best).

Feds send aid, equipment, food, warm blankets, clothes and money.

Texas politicians decide the best thing to do with the money is help the people pay those exorbitant power bills.

The state of Texas screws the pooch and wants the rest of us to give money to pay a bunch of fucking pirates? Really? I have no problem with helping the people of Texas back on their feet,. It's what we should do. But paying a bunch of greedy ass fucking pirates? Rewarding them for screwing their own people in a time of need? Fuck them!

Republicans eye federal funds to help pay Texans’ exorbitant energy bills

Texas Republicans will use federal funds to help pay exorbitant energy bills hitting ordinary Texans after a deep freeze crippled the state this week, a senior congressman said on Sunday.

The New York Times reported one case in which a 63-year-old military veteran living on social security in the Dallas suburbs faced an electricity bill for nearly $17,000, 70 times what he would usually pay for all utilities combined.

Host Dana Bash challenged him, saying: “I’m hearing you say that the federal government is going to help to bail out, and to pay bills in a state which is in part in this mess because it wants to be separate from the federal government. That’s kind of rich, don’t you think?”

McCaul dodged the question, saying instead Texas needed to prepare for more extreme climate events. The deep freeze, he said, was “just a preview of what to expect if the United States doesn’t confront the climate crisis head on”.


Comshaw

 

[Dribble]

This is why all Federal money going there should have been loans.

 

[Philthy_Phil]

With freedom there is sometimes a hefty price to pay.

 

[Lazaran]

.
The dirty little (not so) secret.

Socialism works, and every disaster that the federal government has to help mitigate proves it.

It's reactionary socialism, and it's dumb, but it's still socialism.

That being the case, compensation and taxation structures should be adjusted to fit that reality.

*nods*

 

[bodysong]

Dallas, for instance, which is closer to Wichita, Kansas and almost every place in
Oklahoma than it is to Corpus Christi, has to look to that Gulf Coast city for extra
power.

When bitterly cold weather barreled down the middle of America this weekend,
there were scattered power outages in all the affected states-

Only in Texas were millions plunged into a prolonged unheated, unlit stretch.

The roots of the state’s exceptionally poor performance go back to the 1930s, when
Texas struck a deal with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to stay free of the jurisdiction
of newly created federal regulatory bodies. But the causes of the system’s performance
are also entwined with aggressive deregulation of the electricity sector, which began
in 1999 with a bill signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/18/texas-electric-grid-failure/


"Enron was the number one career patron for George W. Bush," said center director
Charles Lewis.

Vice President Cheney met with Enron officials while he was developing the
administration’s energy policies.

G.W's dad, George H.W. Bush, was enthisiastic about energy deregulation.

Ken Lay was a donor to the presidential campaign of George the first-
George H.W. Bush,when he ran for president in 1980, and Lay was also involved in
and had close ties in the Reagan administration when they deregulated the natural gas
market. So, you know, this was not by any means any kind of a secret here in Texas.
Enron was pushing deregulation in Texas, they were pushing deregulation in California,
etc.

When you look at the records of those meetings, you see that when Cheney comes out
of the meeting, he then has an interview with the Los Angeles Times either the next day
or following day, and he repeats virtually the very same talking points that Ken Lay
handed to him, which were, “Don’t intervene. We believe in the free market."
"Let’s let the free market figure out what the price or proper price of power in
California is."

https://www.democracynow.org/2006/5/26/enron_the_bush_connection

Former Chairman Kenneth Lay was convicted in the 2006 trial but died before he could
be sentenced

Jeffrey Skilling, Former Enron Chief, Released After 12 Years in Prison
2019/02/22

NY Times

 

[RobDownSouth]

The New York Times reported one case in which a 63-year-old military veteran living on social security in the Dallas suburbs faced an electricity bill for nearly $17,000, 70 times what he would usually pay for all utilities combined.

Fuck this guy. He gambled and lost playing the Griddy wholesale electric price game.

Guy got two years of dirt-cheap power, and then was shocked ....SHOCKED ....that prices go up without limit when there is a natural shortage in an unregulated economy.

 

[WillJ8787]

.
The dirty little (not so) secret.

Socialism works, and every disaster that the federal government has to help mitigate proves it.

It's reactionary socialism, and it's dumb, but it's still socialism.

That being the case, compensation and taxation structures should be adjusted to fit that reality.

*nods*

This is 100% right! Private profits always when times are good, and when things go wrong socialized bailouts for those same folks who publicly shun socialized anything and federal govt involvement.

Socialized bailouts come to the rescue every time and it's is proof 100% positive that it actually does work...

...what all of us progressives have been calling for with programs like National single payer healthcare and a National minimum wage is to make sure we socialize the "good times" and "profits" because we all know this is actually how our country runs.

 

[CornusKousa]

.
The dirty little (not so) secret.

Socialism works, and every disaster that the federal government has to help mitigate proves it.

It's reactionary socialism, and it's dumb, but it's still socialism.

That being the case, compensation and taxation structures should be adjusted to fit that reality.

*nods*

Ok, so you don't know what socialism is.

That's not at all shocking, thanks for playing Laz.