Either way, this free market scheme that promised economic paradise will hit their pocketbooks hard. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. Davis has already declared the free market experiment to be an abject failure. The long-term solution is expected to leave the state government in the role of power purchaser for up to five years. San Francisco and many other cities are exploring bailing out of the electricity free market by setting up Municipal Utility Districts that will take responsibility for power.
Electrical power is central to every aspect of life.
When blackouts idled milk processing plants, dairy farmers had to throw their fresh milk away. When the main gasoline pipeline was shut down, some dealers had to turn off their pumps. With traffic lights gone dark, traffic snarls extend throughout the blacked out areas. But when the world's largest manufacturer of integrated circuits, Intel, announces that it is canceling plans to build new plants in California, the state's economy takes a blow that will be felt for years. Nor is California's experience of merely local significance.