California Governor Gray Davis can't be a happy man, despite the sun, the surf, and the ocean breezes. Energy, energy everywhere, and not a watt to read by. Some of our politicians and captains of industry point the finger at Mother Nature for the crisis. They do this by blaming the weather or by claiming that if it weren't for pesky environmental regulations designed to protect mom, energy would be bountiful. The fault, however, lies not with Mother Nature but with Father Capitalism, mad for deregulation and the transfer of social wealth into private hands.
Deregulation generates a new racket.
Then the tidal wave of deregulation hit. The result of the law was to mandate the breakup of the organically connected functions that go into making electricity available. Notably, it required existing utilities to let other companies with no generating capacity have equal access to transmission grids. This created a new niche for middlemen, and some of the biggest corporations in the country rushed in to fill it. Piling the scams on top of each other.