I said a few years ago that there was a pattern to government takeovers..
Witness if you will the automobile industry in this country, which in my view is drowning under the weight of over-regulation over taxation and over unionization. How did the government respond to the bankruptcy or near bankruptcy is off the automobile industry? Did they lower the amount of regulations and red tape did they lower the amount of Union demands? No, they nationalized the Industries. Took over the companies, Lock Stock & Board Room.
Ponder as well the passenger railroad industry in this country. The past is strikingly similar. In the middle seventies, the regulation Burden had gotten to the point where the major railroads were going broke. Government killed the goose that laid the golden egg. And so what happens? Government steps in takes over the then bankrupted railroads, nationalizing them which to this day still serves an agonizingly small number of riders, mostly in the big government Northeast and in Washington DC. Ever heard of the Northeast Corridor?
So here we go again, more of the same: [1]
The City of San Jose, Pacific Gas and Electric’s largest covered city, may soon have its own electrical system, due to frustration over numerous planned blackouts during the last several months.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo presented the plan to the San Jose Rules Committee late Wednesday. The plan states that the city should buy all of the bankrupt PG&E’s electrical utilities and create their own consumer-owned public utility, similar to several other cities in California such as Los Angeles and Pasadena.
Other cities are also currently weighing in on taking over electrical duties from PG&E following the planned blackouts, including San Francisco.
The thing is, as government takeovers increase in a particular field, service invariably gets cut. Have you been watching for example, the number of lines that Amtrak no longer runs? Have you noticed their prices increasing?
It’s not hard to predict where this is going, out in California. The advantage here, I guess, is the last smart person out of California won’t need to turn the lights off.