Never said they were free. But, as I pointed out, as a non-commercial enterprise, the government does not exist to turn a profit. Therefore, there are usually rules in place about how and when certain utilities can be turned off.
Are you under the impression that the state can't regulate private companies?
But not the private company that deliberately caused the blackouts?
No, blame them too. They were breaking the law at the time.
You say the same thing happens with public companies and cite stories told by someone from Nigeria. The point of that was to display the error in your third world comparisons. Nigeria sucks at it because it is complicated.
You don't have an example of that happening in the US? Arguably, Enron was an example of public control resulting in blackouts in the US. Power production is extremely complicated. Sure, production and delivery is primarily private, but it isn't a simple matter of building a power plant, turning it on, putting up power lines and selling your product. Demand has to equal supply, and when the government changes laws that govern how those things are done, things get messed up. And sometimes, its because it allows companies to manipulate the market.
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Date: 26/6/13 03:56 (UTC)Are you under the impression that the state can't regulate private companies?
But not the private company that deliberately caused the blackouts?
No, blame them too. They were breaking the law at the time.
You say the same thing happens with public companies and cite stories told by someone from Nigeria.
The point of that was to display the error in your third world comparisons. Nigeria sucks at it because it is complicated.
You don't have an example of that happening in the US?
Arguably, Enron was an example of public control resulting in blackouts in the US. Power production is extremely complicated. Sure, production and delivery is primarily private, but it isn't a simple matter of building a power plant, turning it on, putting up power lines and selling your product. Demand has to equal supply, and when the government changes laws that govern how those things are done, things get messed up. And sometimes, its because it allows companies to manipulate the market.